Guidelines for Issuing Secretarial Audit and certifying Annual Return issued by ICSI
A member of the Institute holding a valid certificate of practice shall be entitled –
i. to sign Secretarial Audit Report(s) pursuant to Section 204 of the Companies Act,2013(Act No. 18 of 2013) subject to the following limits, for each of the financial year under consideration:
| Sl. No. | No. of years as member of ICSI as on 1st April of each Financial Year | Number of Secretarial Audit Reports |
| 1 | Upto and equal to 5 years | 5 |
| 2 | More than 5 years but less than or equal to 10 years | 10 |
| 3 | More than 10 years | 20 |
Provided that in the case of a firm of Company Secretaries, the ceiling in respect of Secretarial Audit as aforesaid would apply to each partner.
These Guidelines shall come into effect for issue of Secretarial Audit Report for financial year 2015-2016 onward.
Annual Return
A member of the Institute holding a valid certificate of practice shall be entitled-
i. to certify Annual Return pursuant to Section 92(2) of the Companies Act, 2013 (Act No. 18 of 2013), for not more than 80 companies for each of the financial year under consideration.
ii. to sign Annual Return pursuant to Section 92(1) of the Companies Act, 2013 (Act No. 18 of 2013), for any number of companies, for each of the financial year under consideration.
These Guidelines shall come into effect for signing and certification of Annual Return for financial year 2014-2015 onward.