Broadly, the objective of the MOUs is to collaborate with each other in jointly developing and/or organizing programs / workshops, undertaking joint Projects, exchanging course materials & journals, reciprocating participation in conferences organized by the other party, exchanging faculties, conducing joint training programs for trainers and sharing of facilities like infrastructure, library, reading room etc. for mutual benefit.
As per the terms of the MOU with The Alliance University, membership of ICSI shall be recognized as equivalent to Masters Degree for the purpose of pursuing Ph. D in specific subjects at the Alliance University. Reciprocally ICSI shall explore and identify subjects for which exemption may be granted to the students holding Graduation/Post Graduation Degrees awarded by the Alliance University.
Speaking at the annual update meeting in Goldfinch Hotel, Bangalore, Mr. Nesar Ahmad, President, ICSI along with core committee members updated ICSI’s plan for 2011-14.
In the year 2011-12, a new vision, mission and goals chart for 2011-14 were chalked out for the Institute and its members. ICSI has a new formulated Vision to be “a Global leader in promoting Good Corporate Governance” and a mission to “Develop High Caliber Professionals Facilitating Good Corporate Governance.” The council has also formulated new goals for 2011-14 which aims at developing competent professionals, improvisation of infrastructure and visibility of the profession, providing the best training for students, enhancement of placement opportunities and providing leadership on global map. In order to facilitate CS students, ICSI has introduced a unique web based interactive learning system and launched e-learning portal (http://elearning.icsi.edu).
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Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Nesar Ahmad, President ICSI stated that “ICSI has taken various initiatives towards growth and development of the members, students and the profession by undertaking extensive career orientation, professional development programmes, brand building, extensive research, re-organisation, infrastructure development as well as globalisation of profession. The Institute is in transformation stage. Expectation of the trade and industries from our professionals is manifold today. To face the challenges to provide real-time value added services to our stakeholders we are embarking on major technology transformation to have real-time e-mode solutions.”
ICSI has taken initiatives to accomplish its new goals by introducing new syllabus for the students. The CS Foundation programme consists of four papers viz., Business Environment and Entrepreneurship; Business Management, Ethics and Communication; Business Economics; Fundamentals of Accounting and Auditing and Corporate Compliance Executive Certificate for its students. In order to provide professional support to corporate, the Council of the Institute has introduced Corporate Compliance Executive Certificate for the students who have partially qualified the Company Secretary Course and have undergone training but not yet completed Company Secretary Course in totality
For its members, initiatives taken by the institute are:
· Professional Development – along with conducting professional development programmes, it also publishes a professional journal named “Chartered Secretary which is widely accepted and popular among the industry and professionals”
· Secretarial Audit – ICSI has prepared a “Referencer” on Secretarial Audit. The New Companies Bill, 2011 also prescribes certain types of companies to conduct Secretarial Audit
· Secretarial Standards - The Secretarial Standards Board formulates Secretarial Standards taking into consideration the applicable laws, business environment and the best secretarial practices prevalent. The secretarial standards aim at bringing more clarity in certain areas where the law is either silent or ambiguous.
· MCA XBRL initiatives – MCA has taken initiative to mandate all the companies having a paid-up capital of Rs.5 crores to use XBRL taxonomy with an e-form No. 23AC-XBRL & 23ACA-XBRL.
· Publicity and Media – Extensive efforts are being made towards creating awareness about the institute and visibility of the profession globally.
· Forthcoming PMQ courses - The Institute is also in the process of introducing two new PMQ Courses, i.e. a)PMQ Course in Competition Law (developed with the support of Competition Commission of India), and b)PMQ Course in Corporate Restructuring and Insolvency
· Guidance note on non-financial disclosures - Recognising the relevance and inherent utility of the subject, the Institute formulated aGuidance Note on Non Financial Disclosures to enable companies to make appropriate non-financial disclosures that address the major concerns of various stakeholders in this regard.
· ICSI MOUs - ICSI has also collaborated with NALSAR, NISIET from Hyderabad and National Law School of India University in Bangalore for mutual research and collaborative programmes. By developing such relationships, ICSI is spreading a network of opportunities for its members and students
ICSI has also taken initiatives on Corporate Governance:
· Introduction of “corporate governance” as a part of CS syllabus
· Setting up of ICSI – Centre of Corporate Governance Research and Training.
· Directors development programmes
· Conducting Transnational Conferences on Corporate Governance
· Post membership qualification course in Corporate governance was introduced by the institute
· Regularly brings out publications of interest to members and corporate sector to inculcate culture of good governance
The international perspective of Company secretary Profession includes:
· Corporate Secretaries International Association (CSIA) - ICSI is a founder member of Corporate Secretaries International Association, which is a global body, registered in Geneva, Switzerland alongwith other member institutes - The Chartered Secretaries Institutes of Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, UK and Zimbabwe. CSIA was launched in March 2010.
· MOU with CISI London - (ICSI) and Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment (CISI), London, have a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which provides opportunities to Company Secretaries to enhance their Career progression in various specialized areas like capital markets, commodity markets, fund management, wealth management and investment banking.
· World Trade Organisation - to globalise the profession, ICSI has approached the Commerce Ministry for inclusion of a new Head for Corporate Governance and Company Secretarial Services under the Services Sectoral Classification List of the WTO.
· MOU with Malaysian Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (MAISCSA) - The MOU will help students and members in attending the training programmes, exchange of course material and undertake research projects among others.
· Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) - ICSI has joined Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) as an Organizational Stakeholder. ICSI representative on the Advisory Group of GRI Focal Point India and also on GRI-XBRL Taxonomy Review Team
Working with Regulators and Government:
· Investment education and awareness - awareness is one of the core activities of the Institute towards promoting good corporate governance, and in this direction, the Institute has been actively supporting the initiatives taken by Ministry of Corporate Affairs, SEBI and Stock Exchanges by organizing investor awareness programmes.
· Comments and suggestions on various Bill & Reports - the Institute has extended its fullest support to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs in all its new initiatives which include sending detailed comments and suggestions on the Companies Bill as well as MCA 21 initiatives.
· E-initiatives of the Institute - In order to facilitate CS students with a unique web based interactive learning system, the Institute, launched e-learning portal (http://elearning.icsi.edu) for Web Based Training (WBT) and Video Based Training (VBT). Institute provides online services for students through students’ portal (www.icsi.in),
· Challenges Ahead - The Institute is in transformation stage. Expectation of the trade and industries from our professionals is manifold today. To face the challenges to provide real-time value added services to our stakeholders we are embarking on major technology transformation to have real-time e-mode solutions.
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