Ask your Malaysian company secretary for a current copy of the certificate, which the holder downloads from SSM, and check its practising certificate number against the number quoted on your filings. To confirm it without relying on them, buy SSM's Company Secretary Information Data report through an authorised SSM portal and read the Status of SSM PC field.
Key takeaways
- SSM sells the answer: its Company Secretary Information Data report carries the “SSM Practising Certificate (PC) No.” and the “Status of SSM PC”.
- Checking one secretary costs RM25 in SSM fees, before the portal's service charge and the 8% service tax on it.
- You should already have the number: a secretary must quote it when executing documents or lodging with the Registrar.
- A changed number is a signal. Numbers survive renewal, but a certificate expired more than 12 months gets a new one.
- If the certificate has gone, so has the secretary: section 238(1)(c) of the Companies Act 2016 disqualifies the holder, and section 240 gives you thirty days to fill the office.
On this page9
How do you check a Malaysian company secretary's practising certificate?
Two routes, best run together: ask the holder for the certificate, then verify it against SSM's own record. The certificate is not a document a firm issues itself — e-Secretary lets the holder “download the Practising Certificate of Secretary after the application is approved”.
- Ask for the certificate and note the number. You want the copy downloaded from e-Secretary, not a scan of something older.
- Check that number against your own paperwork. SSM's FAQ is blunt about the duty: “You must state the practising certificate number when executing any document in your capacity as a company secretary or when lodging any document / in correspondence with the Registrar.” The number on your resolutions and lodgements should match the certificate.
- Verify it against SSM's record. Buy the Company Secretary Information Data report — SSM's “service that provides detailed information on company secretary data” — and read the status yourself.
If you are still choosing who to appoint, the qualification routes sit in our guide to appointing a company secretary in Malaysia.
What does SSM's CSID report show, and what does it cost?
Company Secretary Information Data, CSID for short, is the report that shows a practising certificate's status straight from the register. SSM lists its contents as “Company Secretary Information including Name, Race, Secretarial Qualification, SSM Practising Certificate (PC) No., Status of SSM PC, Email and Phone Number”, plus the secretary's office details.
| What you are checking | Where it appears in CSID |
|---|---|
| The certificate number | Field “SSM Practising Certificate (PC) No.” |
| Whether the certificate is current | Field “Status of SSM PC” |
| The qualification behind it | Field “Secretarial Qualification” |
| Which office they practise from | Company secretary office information |
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| CSID search | RM20 per search |
| Each company secretary in the report | RM5 per secretary |
Those rates exclude the portal's service charge, on which, SSM notes, “a service tax of 8% will be imposed”. There are “two (2) methods of searching as follows: Search by Criteria; or Search by Practising Certificate Number. (PC No.)” — which is why having the number first makes this quick. The report is bought through SSM's authorised data portals: SSM e-Info, MYDATA-SSM, SSM Search and SSM SAFEDATA.
A current certificate proves the person may act, not that they are your company's secretary of record. SSM sells that separately as Particulars of Company Secretary, a RM20 report carrying the company's “current company secretary information”.
Where does a practising certificate come from?
From SSM, under section 241 of the Companies Act 2016, which requires that “any person who is qualified to act as a secretary and who desires to act as a secretary shall be registered under this section before he can act as a secretary.” The certificate is what that registration produces.
Applications run through e-Secretary, and on approval “practising certificate will be issued by SSM and the particulars of the approved applicant will be entered in the Register of Secretaries.” SSM's FAQ sets the periods: a first certificate “shall be valid for a period of one year from the date of issuance”, a renewal “not more than three years”. e-Secretary adds the deadline — renewal must be applied for “not less than 30 days before the expiry date of PC”.
Why would a certificate lapse without anyone telling you?
Because renewal is conditional, and the conditions tightened. SSM's revised guideline of 22 October 2025, which MAICSA records as superseding the 1 August 2022 guideline, added active practice to the renewal conditions: the holder “must have been appointed and named as a company secretary in at least one company during the validity period of the practising certificate preceding its renewal”.
What makes that worth a director's attention is how SSM proves it. The appointment “can be verified through the company secretary's record of involvement” — a record updated by the Notification of Change in the Register of Directors, Managers and Secretaries under section 58 of the Companies Act 2016, and by the office information held in e-Secretary. Your own filings are the evidence, and a renewal that fails the condition “is ineligible and may be rejected or held in abeyance by the Registrar until the condition is fulfilled.” Renewal also turns on training: “a minimum of 20 CPE hours for the first renewal”.
A secretary who loses the qualification must tell you: SSM's FAQ says they “must notify the Registrar and the company of which you are appointed as company secretary in writing within 14 days from the date of the event.” Real duty, but theirs, not a control you own. What renewal asks year to year sits in our comparison of an in-house against an outsourced company secretary.
What happens to your company if the certificate has lapsed?
The person stops being eligible to act, immediately. Section 238(1)(c) of the Companies Act 2016 disqualifies a person who “ceases to be a holder of a practicing certificate issued by the Registrar under section 241”, and SSM's own FAQ puts it in the first person: “You are disqualified from acting as company secretary as stated under Section 238 of the CA2016.”
Two consequences land on the company rather than the secretary. The first is the clock in section 240: “the office of the secretary of a company shall not be left vacant for more than thirty days at any one time”. The second is personal. Under section 238(3), if a disqualified person keeps acting without leave of the Court, “the secretary and every director who knowingly permits the person to act in that capacity commit an offence.” The exposure sits with the board — the honest reason to run the check rather than assume it. Penalties for leaving the role unfilled are in our page on whether a company secretary is mandatory for a Sdn Bhd; the filing steps for a replacement are in our guide to changing your company secretary.
How long before a lapsed secretary can act again?
It depends on how long the certificate has been expired. Inside 12 months the holder can still renew, though SSM warns “there will be a lapse in your practising certificate period”. Beyond 12 months there is no renewal at all: they “are required to make a new application under Section 241 and obtain a new practising certificate number upon approval.”
That gives a director a usable signal. The number itself survives renewal, so a new number on a long-standing secretary is worth a question: it is what a long lapse leaves behind.
What should you check, and when?
Check the SSM practising certificate before you appoint anyone, then re-check it each year against the expiry date you diarised: a certificate can be valid on the day you sign and expired a year later, and nothing on your side of the relationship will show it.
- Get the certificate downloaded from e-Secretary, and read its number and expiry.
- Compare that number with the one quoted on your last lodgements and resolutions.
- Buy a CSID report by criteria or by certificate number and read the Status of SSM PC field.
- Confirm the person on your section 58 notification is the same person whose certificate you just read.
- Diarise the expiry date, not the renewal promise, and repeat the check after it passes.
Frequently asked questions
Can I check whether a company secretary is licensed for free?
Not from the register itself. SSM's List of Registered Secretaries page explains the section 241 register but publishes no searchable list, so the status field sits in the paid CSID report: RM20 plus RM5 per company secretary, before the service charge and the 8% service tax. The free route is to ask the holder for the copy they download from e-Secretary and check its number against your filings.
Does the practising certificate number change when it is renewed?
No. SSM states that “the practising certificate number remains the same after renewal”. A new number means a new application, which is what happens when a certificate has been expired for more than 12 months. SSM applies the new requirements “to all applications made after the effective date, regardless of when the previous certificate expired”, so a long lapse leaves a new number behind permanently.
What should I do if my company secretary's certificate has expired?
Treat the office as needing to be filled. Section 238(1)(c) disqualifies the holder from acting, and section 240 does not allow the office to stay vacant for more than thirty days, so appoint a qualified replacement inside that window and lodge the change.
Sources
- SSM, Company Information products — CSID contents, search methods, authorised portals, fees and the Particulars of Company Secretary report.
- SSM, e-Secretary — registration under section 241, the Register of Secretaries, renewal timing and certificate download.
- SSM, FAQ Part R: Practising Certificate — validity and renewal periods, the October 2025 renewal conditions, CPE hours, expiry, the certificate number duty and the 14-day notification.
- SSM, List of Registered Secretaries — the section 241 register and the absence of a public searchable list.
- Companies Act 2016 (Act 777) — sections 238, 240 and 241.
- MAICSA technical announcement, 23 October 2025 — what the revised section 241 guideline changed.