Single format · FV01-X1-1

Engagement letter, secretarial audit

A single format from the Secretarial Audit pack. s.204 · Rule 9, Companies (Appointment and Remuneration of Managerial Personnel) Rules 2014 · Regulation 24A, SEBI LODR · CSAS-1.

Length
10 pages
Blanks to fill
79
Files
Word and PDF
Law as at
30 October 2026
Last reviewed
30 October 2026

What it covers

  1. 1Engagement letter, secretarial audits.204 · Rule 9, Companies (Appointment and Remuneration of Managerial Personnel) Rules 2014 · Regulation 24A, SEBI LODR · CSAS-179 blanks

Not included

What you will still need outside this format:

  • The annual secretarial compliance report under Regulation 24A(2), which follows SEBI's own format.
  • Certification of the annual return in Form MGT-8 and other certificates, each under a separate engagement (and, for a listed entity, prior Board approval).
  • The AGM resolution and explanatory statement appointing a listed entity's secretarial auditor for its five-year term.
  • Board and general meeting papers, registers and the Board's report itself: Board Meeting Formats (FV01-C7), General Meeting Formats (FV01-D9), Register Formats (FV01-E3) and The Board's Report (FV01-H6).
  • The retainer engagement for routine secretarial and ROC work: FV01-B7; the statutory audit representation letter: FV03-B9.
  • Regularising defaults the audit finds: adjudication under section 454 (FV01-I3), compounding under section 441, or condonation under section 87.
  • Peer review, UDIN generation and verification on the ICSI portals, and checklists for sector-specific laws.
  • MCA additional fees, penalties and the fee for the audit.

Read the opening

The first part of the format, as it downloads. Blanks are highlighted.

On the letterhead of the Practising Company Secretary, in duplicate

Ref: [Engagement reference] · Date: [Date of this letter]

To,
The Board of Directors
[Name of the Company]
[Registered office address of the Company]
CIN: [CIN of the Company]

Kind attention: [Name and designation of the contact person]

Subject: Secretarial audit under section 204 of the Companies Act 2013 for the financial year [Financial year under audit]: terms of engagement

Dear Members of the Board,

We thank you for appointing us. CSAS-1 (Auditing Standard on Audit Engagement) issued by the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (“ICSI”) requires the terms of the audit to be agreed in writing before we begin. They are set out below. Please have the duplicate signed on behalf of the Company and returned to us.

1. Appointment.

43 more paragraphs and tables follow in the full format.

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