[FAQs] Company Secretary (CS) – Admission Related Questions

In order to complete the CS Course, candidates have to clear the CS exams conducted by the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) in three stages – CSEET, Executive and Professional.

At each level of the CS Course, a candidate has to get himself/ herself enrolled/ registered with ICSI. After such registration, once the requisite period of study, the candidate is eligible to appear for the respective level examination by filling a separate examination form.

Eligibility Criteria for Registration:

For CSEET:
A candidate who has passed or is appearing in the Senior Secondary (10+2) Examination or equivalent thereto shall be eligible to appear in the CSEET.

For Executive Exam:
There are two ways in which a student can register for CS Executive Programme:

I. Through CSEET: A candidate is believed to have passed the eligibility criteria for CS Executive Registration if:

• • • Candidate has passed Senior Secondary Examination (10+2 system) conducted by an examining body constituted by law in India or an examination recognised by the Central Government or State Government or equivalent thereto for the purposes of admission to Bachelor’s degree course; and
    • Candidate has passed Company Secretary Executive Entrance Test (CSEET) conducted by the Institute. Note: The date of CSEET result should not be older than one year prior to the date of such registration.

II. Through Direct Entry: Some candidates are exempted from passing CSEET and can directly register for CS Executive Programme through Direct Entry scheme. They include:

1. CS Foundation Programme passed students.
2. ICAI (The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India) Final Course passed students.
3. ICMAI (The Institute of Cost Accountants of India) Final Course passed students.
4. Graduates (having minimum 50% Marks) in any discipline of any recognized University or any other Institution in India or abroad recognized as equivalent thereto by the Council.
5. Post-graduates in any discipline of any recognized University or any other Institution in India or abroad recognized as equivalent thereto by the Council.

Note: Candidates who have cleared Final Course of ICAI or ICMAI or are graduates having minimum 50% marks or post-graduates are eligible for such exemption by paying an additional fee of Rs. 5,000 at the time of registration for CS Executive.

For Professional Exam:
To register for CS Professional Programme, the candidates must qualify both the modules of the Executive examination.

CSEET stands for Company Secretary Executive Entrance Test. It is the entrance level examination of the Company Secretary (CS) course conducted by the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI). A student can enroll for CS Executive Programme only after clearing CSEET, though direct entry to CS Executive Programme is allowed for some candidates. The prospectus is available at the link provided here:
(https://www.icsi.edu/media/webmodules/CSEET_PROSPECTUS.pdf)

Yes, a student can appear for CSEET after appearing or clearing Class 12 examinations.

Yes, ICSI grants exemption to following students/ candidates/ professionals by allowing Direct Entry to Executive Programme on registration i.e. they are exempted from qualifying CSEET and are eligible to seek registration directly to the Executive Programme:

1. CS Foundation Programme passed students.
2. ICAI (The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India) Final Course passed students.
3. ICMAI (The Institute of Cost Accountants of India) Final Course passed students.
4. Graduates (having minimum 50% Marks) in any discipline of any recognized University or any other Institution in India or abroad recognized as equivalent thereto by the Council.
5. Post-graduates in any discipline of any recognized University or any other Institution in India or abroad recognized as equivalent thereto by the Council.

No, provisional admissions are not allowed for the Executive Programme. Only upon completion of graduation with a minimum of 50%, a student can enroll directly for Executive Programme.

Yes, the minimum educational qualification required to get registered for CSEET is passing/ appearing Class 10 + 2 examination from any recognized board. Thus, a student can register for CSEET after clearing/ appearing in the senior secondary (10+2) examination (either from commerce or any other stream).

Further, a student can register for CS Executive Course either through:

• • CSEET i.e. after clearing CSEET successfully, or
  • Direct Entry Route in which he/she may be a Commerce or any other stream graduate/ post graduate with a specified minimum percentage of marks or has passed the final level of ICAI or ICMAI. Such candidates are exempted from passing CSEET and can directly register for Executive Programme.

Thus, even a non-commerce student can pursue the CS Course.

Company Secretary (CS) is one of the much respected, prestigious and in-demand professional qualifications in the country. The course is for the aspirants who wish to become Company Secretaries aiding in filing, registering, presenting, verifying or attesting any documents on behalf of the company. Company Secretaries may also act as legal advisors, planners, policy makers, etc. in companies situated in India or abroad. To gain such sound knowledge, a candidate needs to study below subjects during the three stages of CS examinations.

Here is the list of subjects in CS exams at various levels:

Note: New Syllabus 2023 shall be made effective from the year 2023, for which the syllabus and exam pattern are yet to be notified by the Institute.

The Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) is the governing body for conducting the CS exams. For being qualified as a Company Secretary, a candidate has to clear all the 3 levels – CSEET, Executive and Professional. (Note: Some candidates are exempted from appearing in CSEET and can directly register for Executive.)

Every year, CSEET examinations are held four times a year in January, May, July, November. Whereas the CS exams for Executive and Professional are held in June and December i.e. twice a year.

Considering the best-case scenario, where a student is able to crack all the exams in one attempt, it will take around 3 years for him/her to get the CS degree. He/She can appear for CSEET just after appearing 10+2; and after one year he/she can choose to appear for CS Executive; and further on completing Executive, during the tenure of 21 months training, he/she can complete the CS Professional Exams.

Accordingly, depending on the route chosen to enroll for CS Course i.e. CSEET or Direct Route, the time requirement for course completion including all the necessary trainings differs as follows:

No, a student can clear his/her Professional Exams within one year of clearing CS Executive exams but to become a CS, he/she is required to undergo and complete 21 months Practical Training.

In order to be eligible to appear in the Examination, students must register (https://smash.icsi.edu/) for the respective Course on or before the following dates:

• CSEET:

• CS Executive/ Professional:

No, students are expected to fill and submit their applications for registration to CS Course through online mode only.

CSEET:

For the process of CSEET registration, a candidate has to visit the portal of ICSI (https://smash.icsi.edu/Scripts/CSEET/Instructions_CSEET.aspx).

After successful submission of forms and related documents, and payment of the requisite registration fees, the documents shall be verified and registration will be confirmed by the Institute.

Reference Book (MCQ Based) shall be provided by the institute with an additional fee of Rs. 500 at the time of registration.

Executive:

For students registering for CS Executive Programme, they shall be required to choose the route i.e. through CSEET on visiting https://smash.icsi.edu/Scripts/CSEETregistration/Instructions_CSEETreg.aspx or Direct Entry Route on visiting https://smash.icsi.edu/Scripts/Registration/Registration.aspx.

After successful submission of forms and related documents, and payment of the requisite registration fees, the documents shall be verified and registration will be confirmed by the Institute.

Note: One can access the study material on Institute’s official website (https://www.icsi.edu/studymaterialnewsyllabusexe2017) from where the students can read and download the material as required.

Professional:

For students registering for CS Professional Programme, they shall be required to visit https://smash.icsi.edu/Scripts/login.aspx.

After successful submission of forms and related documents, and payment of the requisite registration fees, the documents shall be verified and registration will be confirmed by the Institute.

One can access the study material on Institute’s official website (https://icsi.edu/study-material-professional-programme-new-syllabus-2017) from where the students can read and download the material as required.

In order to enroll for the CS Course, online registration by the student is required at all the three levels of the course – CSEET, Executive and Professional. Further, the registration process for each stage requires different documents to be uploaded which are stated as under:

Note: All the files to be uploaded should be present in one of the formats viz. jpg, jpeg, png, gif, bmp, pdf.The maximum allowed file size is 2 MB.

CSEET:

Below is the registration fee structure applicable as per the current ICSI guidelines for CSEET:

Note: Reference Book (MCQ-Based) shall be provided by the Institute with an additional fee of Rs. 500 at the time of registration.

Executive:

Below is the registration fee structure applicable as per the current ICSI guidelines for CS Executive Programme:

Professional:

Below is the registration fee structure applicable as per the current ICSI guidelines for CS Professional:

CSEET registration is valid for one attempt only. A student is required to register for CSEET every time he/she appears for the exam. However, there are no restrictions on number of attempts. So a student can appear 4 times a year for CSEET, subject to re-registration and paying a fee of Rs. 1,000 each time.

The registration to the regular stage of CS Course (consisting of Executive & Professional Programme) is valid for a period of five years from the month of registration in Executive Programme. Students whose registration gets expired on completion of five-year period shall be required to get the validity of registration renewed till passing the Professional Programme Stage.

The entire CS Course takes approximately 3.5 years to complete with a total course fee of around Rs. 2,00,000 to 2,50,000 (including separate coaching center fees).

If a candidate does not opt for coaching classes, then the over-all expenditure comes down to an approximate of Rs. 80,000 to 90,000, which includes all expenses such as registration fees, examination fees and training fees.

Yes, ICSI provides for different rates of concessionsin registration fees for following categories of students:

The Institute has discontinued the scheme of forwarding Registration Letters and Identity Cards by post (in physical form). Instead, the Registration Letter beside Identity Cards can readily be downloaded from Institute’s website (https://smash.icsi.edu/scripts/login.aspx).