Section 204 of the Companies Act, 2013 mandates the requirement of a secretarial audit report annexed with Board report of every listed company and a company belonging to other class* made in terms of sub-section (3) of section 134, given by a company secretary in practice**, in such form as may be prescribed. It shall be the duty of the company to give all assistance and facilities to the company secretary in practice, for auditing the secretarial and related records of the company.
Sub section 3 further mandates that the Board of Directors, in their report made in terms of sub-section (3) of section 134, shall explain in full any qualification or observation or other remarks made by the company secretary in practice in his report under sub-section (1).
While preparing such report the Company secretary in practice need to follow the provisions of section 143 dealing with Powers and duties of auditors and auditing standards.
* The Public Companies having net worth of INR
**Section 2 sub section (25) defines a company secretary in practice means a company secretary who is deemed to be in practice under sub-section (2) of section 2 of the Company Secretaries Act, 1980 (56 of 1980).
We do secretarial audit of the companies as defined above with highest degree of corporate governance and follow the requirement of law in letter and spirit.
An audit report speaks in many words the corporate compliance status of a company. Its easy to just fulfill the requirement of law but difficult to ensure that the report is prepared in a proper manner and covers all aspects as defined in secretarial standards and rules dealing with it.
It will be our endeavor to not only diagnose true position of compliances but also advise on remedial measures to make it full proof.