How Becoming a Company Secretary Changed My Life

My life journey

I come from a middle-class family; my dad runs a small tailoring business, and my mother is a housewife who helps my dad in his tailoring work. “I have three siblings: an elder sister who is a housewife, another sister who is a chartered accountant, and a younger brother who is also a chartered accountant (CA),” says CS Dharmesh Sarvaiya, who is a practicing company secretary from Mumbai.

“I was the only child who attended a private school beginning in kindergarten, while my other siblings attended a public school.”I was a bright student right from the very start; therefore, the expectations of my parents were also very high for me.

When I was in the 7^th grade, my dad left his job and started a small tailoring shop. After school, I used to sit at his shop and help him with minor tailoring jobs, gradually learning to tailor well. Since dad’s business was new, we used to have financial issues, so my mom took on the housework of others to support us. It was a time in our lives that was not very good but not too bad, as we all learned so much in those tough years.

After class 10, my eldest sister also began working to help us. I, too, wanted to contribute, so I started my first job during my school vacation (polishing artificial jewelry), earning Rs. 927/-pm. It was an awesome feeling when I gave my complete earnings to my mother.

After securing First Class in Grade 10, I started with college and secured Second Rank in Class 12. My career plans were to complete my graduation and do an MBA.

When I was in FYB.Com, my dad suffered from serious health issues. Luckily, all went well, but it took him a while to recover. Because our shop was the only major source of income and dad’s chances of being able to work again were slim, I took over the entire shop and managed it for 6 months, completely neglecting my college studies. One day, I decided to abandon all of my academic ambitions in order to devote my full attention to my father’s tailoring business. However, after several operations and bed rest, my dad started coming to the shop, and slowly he took over the shop and let me resume my college and studies.

My CS Journey

One day I realized that an MBA was going to cost lakhs of rupees, and I could not afford the same back then, so I scrapped the idea of doing one. After my graduation, I thought of pursuing chartered accounting.

I joined a coaching class for the CPT (1^st level CA exam) but could not attend and concentrate well on the CPT class due to some family issues, so I dropped off and my brother started attending lectures instead of me (as we did not want to waste the fees). That’s how my brother’s CA journey started. He also passed CPT on the first try.

It was during that phase that one of my uncles suggested company secretary (CS), and I decided on the spot that I would go ahead with it, and here started my CS journey. Sometimes when I think about it, if I had not decided there and then on pursuing CS, maybe I would have never done it. Because of financial issues, I chose to self-study and work full time at a CA firm.

CS Executive Exam:

• It took me two attempts to clear the CS Executive Exam (2nd level CS Exam; as I was a graduate, I could start with the 2^nd level directly).

Articles:

• After finishing CS Executive, I joined articles as my boss’s sole article, CS Nimish Mehta sir. He played a significant role in making me what I am today, and I am very thankful to him.
• During my articleship, I got a chance to work independently on several assignments where I learned how to handle clients.
• After completing my articleship, I started working in the accounts field and also started taking up secretarial assignments independently.

CS Final:

• I chose to self-study and work full time in CS Final (the final level CS exam) because I wanted to continue my work and independent assignments.
• Three groups of my CS Final Examinations were cleared in my first three attempts, but one group took eight attempts (4 years) to clear.
• In the meantime, my younger brother cleared his CA, and after 3 years of him becoming a CA, I cleared that one group.
• Finally becoming a qualified company secretary (CS).

CS has various benefits, including:

• It is relatively cheaper than other courses.
• It has great professional value.
• A lot of students do not understand the value or importance of being a CS. With the current reforms in the Companies Act, the scope of a CS is infinite and very lucrative.
• Being a key managerial person, a CS gets paid well.
• You can pass the course with self-study.
• The only key to being the best CS professional is to keep yourself updated.
• One should select the CS course if he or she is good at understanding legal language and laws. As the CS course is all about compliance with various statutory laws, be it the Companies Act 2031, the SEBI Act, the Labor Laws, or any other laws applicable to corporations,

What is the procedure to become a company secretary in India?

If a student decides to take a computer science course after passing the 12th grade exam, he or she must go through three stages:

1. Foundation (Students with a 10+2 pass or equivalent in Arts, Science, or Commerce (excluding Fine Arts) can pursue the Foundation Programme.
2. Executive (the Executive Program can be pursued by a graduate of all streams except Fine Arts).
3. Professional (except for Fine Arts graduates, the Executive Program is open to all graduates).

• Admission to the CS Course is open throughout the year.
• Examinations are held twice a year, in June and December.
• Today, my brother Navin Sarvaiya and I are running a firm by the name of Sarvaiya & Co., where we provide a one-stop solution for all the accounting, taxation, audit, companies act, FEMA, finance, and related matters for our esteemed clients. Since he is a practicing CA and I am a practicing CS, we provide complementary services to each other, benefiting us and our clients. Also, we kept our roles very specific to each other’s domains, so there were no competing points of view on any subject.
• By God’s grace, my parents are fine, and all is great. “We are ever grateful to them for all they have done for us,” he concluded.