That is exactly the question I asked when I found myself temping in the Company Secretarial department at Ernst & Young one summer, just before starting my final year at university.
At the time, I had a very clear (and completely wrong) idea of what a “Company Secretary” was.
I imagined someone indispensable to the team—but firmly in a traditional admin role: managing the post, dealing with faxes (yes, faxes!), booking meeting rooms, typing letters… you know, the backbone of office life.
I mean, the name does suggest that.
Fast forward 10 weeks, and I realised there was a whole other world behind that title.
So… what is a Company Secretary?
In a nutshell, a Company Secretary is the person responsible for making sure a company:
- Complies with the law, and
- Runs its administration properly
But they are far more than just an administrator.
A Company Secretary sits right at the heart of a business—between the board of directors, the company itself, and regulators like Companies House. They play a key role in ensuring that everything is done properly, documented correctly, and in line with legal and regulatory requirements.
Think of them as:
- The guardian of governance
- The keeper of the company’s official story
- The person who quietly ensures everything runs as it should behind the scenes
How I accidentally became one…
After that summer at Ernst & Young, I headed back to university still unsure what I wanted to do.
Like most final-year students, I applied for lots of roles—some of which happened to be in company secretarial teams. One of those led to me being offered a trainee role at HW Fisher.
And that’s where everything really started.
Over the next 3–4 years, I studied to become an Associate of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries (now CGI), covering subjects such as:
- Company Law – the detailed legal framework behind companies
- Company Secretarial Practice – filings, procedures, and compliance
- Corporate Governance – how companies are directed and controlled
- Financial Reporting & Accounting
- Management Accounting / Finance
- Company Administration & Compliance – statutory records and filings
- Corporate Strategy & Management
It was a far cry from booking meeting rooms.
What does a Company Secretary actually do day to day?
The reality of the role is incredibly varied—and that’s one of the reasons I’ve done it for so long.
On a daily basis, I:
- Look after company records to ensure everything is legally compliant
- File documents at Companies House
- Monitor deadlines and keep companies on track
- Prepare confirmation statements and annual filings
- Maintain statutory registers, including:
- Directors and shareholders
- Share ownership
- Draft board minutes and resolutions
- Advise on complex share transactions and PSC (Persons with Significant Control) matters
It’s a mix of legal, technical, administrative, and advisory work—and no two days are quite the same.
22 years later…
I spent 22 years at HW Fisher (which says a lot about how much I enjoyed it!) before moving to Hillier Hopkins in November 2023 to head up the Company Secretarial department.
The work is just as interesting and with close to 3,000 companies on our database, every day brings something different—from routine filings to complex restructuring and share work.
And I’m lucky to have an invaluable team of colleagues supporting the work—because company secretarial is definitely a team effort.
And just when you think you’ve seen it all…
In recent times, the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act (ECCTA) has come into force, bringing with it significant changes and new demands.
But I’ll save that story for another day…
Final thought
So, if you ever wondered what a Company Secretary does—
It’s not (just) admin.
It’s not (just) paperwork.
It’s about keeping companies compliant, structured, and running smoothly—often quietly in the background, but absolutely essential.
