If you enjoyed your company law module and would like a position of seniority that supports an organisation’s decision making, a career in governance could be for you. With a knowledge base of law, business strategy and finance, and new learning opportunities around every corner, a role in governance is perfect for those who are curious, good communicators and have great organisational skills.
If you like building relationships across an organisation and know how to be persuasive, this is a career that would suit you. And the best part, there’s no training contract required and no need to specialise. A career in governance is flexible, transportable and can lead to a much broader career than law alone.
What Is a Governance Professional?
A company secretary is a traditional job title that is now part of a wider set of roles that are encompassed in the role of Governance Professional. The role of the company secretary originated in the nineteenth century when the modern structures for companies were created to describe the senior corporate administrator. Today, whilst the title is still used, what company secretaries do and the responsibilities that they have are far more significant and wide-ranging than company administration, they find themselves organising, advising and supporting the board of directors.
Company secretaries work in corporate and private companies but also work in the charity, public and not-for-profit sectors. Titles for governance professionals increasingly vary across different organisations and can include chief governance officer, trust secretary, head of governance and governance manager to name a few.
What Does a Governance Professional Do?
To say that the role of a governance professional is broad would be an understatement. Typical responsibilities can range from organising the AGM (Annual General Meeting) to collating a company’s annual report from stakeholders across the business. While there is undoubtedly an administrative element to the role, particularly when you start, as the primary governance professional in an organisation, governance professionals and company secretaries do far more than simply record the minutes of meetings (Which are legal documents, not just notes!), issue notices and file statutory documents.
‘No two days are the same’, says Samira Chambas, Assistant Company Secretary at Diageo, ‘My day could involve a variety of tasks, including drafting and uploading papers for board meetings, attending and minuting meetings, preparing and submitting RNS stock market announcements, performing board effectiveness reviews, as well as notifying Companies House, the Financial Conduct Authority and other relevant regulatory bodies on company changes such as share capital increases/decreases, director appointments or resignations and dissolutions or liquidations.
There is also quite a lot of research involved in the role of a company secretary, such as reviewing the impact of government policy and publications and making sure that the board and the company as a whole adheres to the highest legal governance standards.’
What Knowledge Is Required?
Governance professionals start their careers in a variety of different roles and sectors. Our members have come from professions such as music, humanities, and linguistics, as well as more traditional sectors such as law and finance.
The knowledge base for this role includes company law, business strategy and finance, and depending on the organisations can stretch to fit sustainability in supply chains, dealing with modern slavery and environmental impacts, IP law, data governance, risk, compliance, audit, and even assessing board skills composition and recruiting new board members.
Regardless of your background knowledge, there are ways to make your break into a career in governance you may find an entry-level role at an organisation that is willing to train you, you may choose to take the Chartered Governance Qualifying Programme. And if you have the right background in law or accounting, you may be able to fast track your way through the qualification. All of these routes will help you develop the basic knowledge you need for a successful career in governance.