MAICSA SEES SHORTAGE OF COMPANY SECRETARIES WITH LIBERALISATION

KUALA LUMPUR, July 6 (Bernama) -- The liberalisation of the capital market
will lead to a shortage of qualified and experienced company secretaries as more
businesses are set up and foreign direct investments pour into the country.

President of the Malaysian Institute of Chartered Secretaries and
Administrators (MAICSA), Janet Ang, said the institute would face a challenge to
churn out company secretaries within a short period of time to keep up with the
pace of liberalisation.

She said a company secretary would act as adviser on regulatory framework
requirements to help investors gain relevant information on corporate matters.

Ang said they also played an important role as they would have intimate
working exposure to the board of directors and plan meetings with the chairman.

"It takes about eight years to get the relevant experience and become a
top-rated company secretary to handle issues as top adviser in the company," Ang
told a media briefing after the launch of the MAICSA annual conference here
Monday.

Ang said MAICSA members were fully employed and some were even offered jobs
before they graduated.

"Also, company secretaries enjoy a lucrative career in Malaysia and those
with the relevant experience will call the shots when it comes to salary," she
said.

She said those who passed 16 papers in the MAICSA examinations could apply
to become a member at the graduateship level before progressing to associateship
and fellowship levels.

"Those with relevant degrees in accounting or law can apply for exemptions,
wherby they only need to take the last four papers in the international
qualifiying scheme of the MAICSA exam," she said.

Ang said 63 percent of listed companies in the country had company
secretaries who are MAICSA members.

MAICSA has 3,600 members, she said.

Earlier, deputy secretary-general of the Ministry of Domestic Trade,
Cooperatives and Consumerism, Daud Tahir, said professional bodies, such as
MAICSA, played an important role to shape the future corporate professionals.

"As corporate professionals, corporate governance and corporate
responsibility are two areas that are important for you and your organisations
to focus on," he said in his keynote address at the launch of MAICSA annual
conference.

Daud said, to this end, Bursa Malaysia was working on a Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) index to measure the social and environmental performance
of local companies.

He said the index was expected to come out by 2010.

"Our companies are still far behind international best practices in CSR.

"With the CSR Index, we hope it will encourage society at large to improve
their corporate responsibility," he said.
-- BERNAMA