SECRETARY

CONTENTS:
1. O rigin of the term 'Secretary'.
2. M eaning of the term 'Secretary'.
3. D efinition of a'S ecretary'.
4. F eatures of a'Secretary'.
5. Im portance of a 'Secretary'.
SUBJECT MATTER:
| *t. ORIGIN OF THE TERM 'SECRETARY'
The term secretary is derived from the Latin term 'Secretarius', which means a confidential
officer (Writer).
In the old Roman Empire a secretary was called 'Scribae', which means professional letter
writer.
In ancient Indian literature and historical documents the words like 'Amatya', 'Sachiva', and
'Chitnis' were used for a secretary. Originally, the term 'secretary' was mainly related with the
person who does writing work for his master.
|*2. MEANING OF THE TERM 'SECRETARY1 |
The profession of a secretary is one of the oldest profession in the world.
In ancient times important persons like Kings, Emperors, Businessmen etc. appoint secretary to
carry out their routine work like letter writing and keeping records of important events, matters
etc. In addition to this certain confidential duties also were assigned to him.
Now, a secretary is appointed by important and busy persons like, Member of Parliament,
Ministers, Doctors, Lawyers, Chartered Accountants, Business executives, Architects etc.
Similarly a secretary is also appointed by business organisations and institutions like Joint Stock
Companies, Co-operative Societies, Public or Local Bqdies, Non-profit Associations and
Government departments.
Formerly, a secretary means a person with a pen who used to write and keep records for his
master.
In modern times, a secretary has to perform various duties. His duties no more remained
restricted only to conducting correspondence for his master. As it is discussed earlier, a
secretary is appointed by many busy persons like professionals as well as by various business
organisations, institutions, public bodies etc.
The services of a secretary have become indispensible (can not be avoided) for a professional
persons and various organisations like Trading and Non-Trading. Appointment of a secretary
may be compulsory or optional. The nature of his duties and services wholly depends on the
nature of activities of his master. In modern times a secretary has to perform routine, statutory
(legal), Administrative and Managerial duties.
In short, a secretary is a confidant (confidential person) or Trustworthy officer of the boss (may
be a person or organisation or Institution).
Generally, a secretary performs following duties:
(a) C onducting C orrespondence,
(b) C ustodian of confidential inform ation,
(c) Office adm inistration,
(d) M aintenance of office records,
(e) M aintaining Accounts,
(f) C onducting M eetings,
(g) Keeping m inutes of the m eetings,
(h) W orking as a Public Relation O fficer (P.R.O .)
(i) Assisting, guiding his boss on official matters,
(j) Assisting his boss for smooth functioning and efficient conduct of the office.
1*3. DEFINITION OF A SECRETARY I
(i) The Oxford Dictionary defines a secretary as "A
a person, whose work is to write for
others,
especially one who is employed to conduct correspondence, keep records and to transact
various other businesses for another person or for a society, corporation or a public
body."
(ii) Penguin Dictionary of Commerce defines a secretary as "a person who deals with the
„ general administration of an organisation, particularly with clerical work such as
correspondence, taking minutes at a meetings and keeping records."
(i\\) The Indian Companies Act, (as Amended in 1988) defines a secretary as "Any individual
possessing prescribed qualification and appointed to perform the duties which may be
performed by the secretary under this Act and any other ministerial or administrative
duties."
|*4. FEATURES O F SECRETARY
A i
The features of a secretary are as follow s:
(i) A secretary is alw ays an individual and not a corporate body or any other institution.
(ii) A secretary may be appointed by an individual, public body, an institution, a joint
stock company or a cooperative society. He acts as an employee of his master (a
person or a body). He m ay work on part tim e or on full tim(H e basis.
i) He acts as a
confidential w riter.
H e is custodian of secret and confidential inform ation of
his em ployer or appointing authority.
(iv) A secretary has to perform various duties.
Duties like office administration,
correspondence, record keeping, public relation, statutory duties and other duties as per
the nature of activities under taken by his em ployer.(v) A secretary is an employee
(servant) of his boss. Still he occupies an influential position
in office adm inistration and m anagem ent. How ever, he is not allow ed to take independent
decisions. H e just has to carry out or im plem ent the decisions taken by his (vi) superiors.
Every
secretary must possess certain qualifications and qualities. The qualification
include educational, professional and training. Som e secretaries require to possess the
qualification prescribed by Law (like com pany secretary). A secretary also requires to
develop certain good qualities w ithin him self to becom e successful in(vii) hisAw ork.
secretary is paid remuneration for his services. A personal secretary, company
secretary get regular salary, w hile a secretary of co-operative society, non-profit association
w ork honourary basis.
(viii)There are two types of secretariesPersonal
- and Institutionali.e. company, co-operative
society, club etc.
(ix) A secretary has to perform statutory duties. Statutory duties are those which are
required to be performed under the specific Act (or law). A secretary of joint stock company, a
cooperative society have to perform statutory duties at large.
1*5. IMPORTANCE OF A SECRETARY

I
(a) A secretary is an important person in business organisation: It is said that a secretary is
an indispensable person for office organisation. Because he looks after the administrative work
and executes the decisions taken by the management. He also acts as an executive officer and
performs variety of functions. He has complete knowledge of his organisation and its activities,
which helps him to guide, advice, provide information to his boss (or management) while taking
decisions, planning, policy making.
(b) A secretary occupies key position in office organisation: A secretary occupies nucleus
(central) position, around which the whole office machinery rotates. He occupies key position in
the administrative set up of the organisation. He is a link between the top management and
middle and lower management. He is also a link betweenorganisation
his and outsider like
customers, clients, other organisations, Government body etc. He being the confidant and
trustworthy of his organisation, all important, confidential and secret business matters are
stored (custody) with him. A secretary, therefore, is -administration executive, Public Relation
Officer, and Custodian of confidential information.
(c) Confidential and trustworthy person: A secretary is a custodian of secret, confidential
and
important information of his organisation. Since he is closely connected with a top management,
he participate in the decision making, policy framing, planning etc. Allimportant
such decisions
regarding business activities are required to be m aintain at top confidential. A secretary keeps all
such confidential decisions and executes them at a right tim e.
(d) Compliance with Legal requirements: A secretary is responsible for compliance with Legal
requirements on behalf of his organisation. Maintenance of statutory books and records, filing of
returns (legal papers) and statements to concern authorities, doing or completion of work within
the stipulated time limit laid down by the law, all these are the responsibilities of a secretary.
Especially, in a Joint stock company a company secretary is responsible for all legal work that is
why he is call 'legal executive' of his organisation. A secretary is, therefore, an indispensable
officer, office executive, confidant and trustworthy and legal executive of his organisation.
SUBJECT TESTING - I : (Direct Questions)
Q.1. W rite about origin of the term 'secretary'.
Q .2. G ive som e m eanings of the term 'secretary'.
Q .3. Define the term'secretary'.
Q.4. W rite some features of a secretary.
Q .5. W hatIs the importance of a secretary in business organisation?
SUBJECT TESTING - II : (For Reliable Study)
Q .1. Fill In the blan ks:
(a) The term ______ m eans a confidential writer.
(b) In the old Rom an Empire the person doing secretarial work was designated as.
(c) A secretary is a custodian of ______ information.
(d) The duties that a secretary perform s under various laws are called ______
(e) A secretary is a - person of his organisation.
Ans: (a)Secretarius,(b) scribae,(c) confidential,(d) statutory duties, (e) trustworthy.
Q .2 . W rite a w o rd , a p h ra s e o r a T e rm w h ic h c a n s u b s titu te e a c h o f th e fo llo w in g :
(a) A person w ho acts as confidential writer.
(b ) A p e rs m v ifto d o e s w rS t^
(c) ; Duties required to be perform ed under various Laws.
(d ) In th e o ld R o m a n E m p ire th e s e c re ta ry w a s fe fe rre d a s .
(e) In Ancient Indian literature the post of secretary is referred as.
Ans: (a) Secretary, (b) Secretary, (c) Statutory duties, (d) Secretarius, (e) Sachiva, Chttnis, Amatya.
Q.3. State whether the following statements are True or False:
pf T h e p ro fe s s io n tf s e o re lS ry te o J d e s tO n e V
(ii) A secretary is not responsible for com pliance w ith legal requirem ents.
(H i) A s e c re ta ry c a n /b e
ffi) A secretary mtlst be an incBvlduaf.
A!
(vi) A profession of secretary is recent one.
A n«;

Q.4. Write short notes:

'(J J) F e a tu re s o f a s e c re ta ry .
Q .5 .'
(i)
(ii) State in brief the importance :of a
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Q.6. EssayTyp®.Questionls: /•.
(i) Define the term secretary and explain the features of a secretary.

(Hi) ."A secretary is an indispensable person in the office." Explain.