SSM Licensed Secretary study plan

SSM Licensed Secretary · Give each week a clear focus.

8 weeks · About 7 hours per week

Week 1

Company Law and the Companies Act 2016

Map the Companies Act 2016 structure section by section, noting which Parts govern incorporation, constitution, shares, directors, and winding up
Memorise the incorporation mechanics: promoter obligations, lodgment with the Registrar, notice of registration, and the effect of a certificate of incorporation
Explain the legal effect of the constitution as a contract between company and members and between members inter se, and state how it may be altered
Distinguish the private, public, and exempt private company classifications and state the practical consequences of each

A one-page annotated section map of the Companies Act 2016 with at least 40 section references grouped by topic

Week 2

Describe the corporate capacity, powers, and the doctrine of ultra vires as it applies under the Act, including validity of acts done without capacity
Work through the rules on share capital, share allotment, and the circumstances in which a company may reduce capital or undertake a share buy-back
Outline the members' rights regime: requisitioning meetings, written resolutions, proxies, and the 21-day notice default
Summarise the statutory duties and disqualification grounds for directors and secretaries, including the requirement for a registered office and registers

A comparison table of members' meeting notice periods, quorum, and voting thresholds for private and public companies, citing sections

Week 3

Draft a compliant set of board and general meeting minutes from a hypothetical fact pattern, capturing quorum, declarations of interest, and resolutions passed
Prepare the full suite of statutory registers a company must maintain and state the retention and inspection rules for each
Sequence the annual return lodgment process, identifying the documents that must accompany it and the filing deadlines
Explain the secretary's role in share transfers, including instrument of transfer, stamping, and register updates
Identify the statutory duties of the company secretary under the Act and the consequences of vacancy in office

A complete mock secretarial file for a fictional private company: registers list, annual return checklist, and one set of drafted minutes

Week 4

Articulate the statutory and fiduciary duties of directors and map each duty to a concrete breach scenario
Apply the business judgment rule and the conflict-of-interest provisions to three short case-style problems
Distinguish the roles of the board, the audit committee, and the company secretary in the governance framework
Summarise the Malaysian Code on Corporate Governance principles and explain how a secretary evidences compliance

Three written case answers of 200 words each on director duty breaches, each identifying the duty, the breach, and the consequence

Week 5

Explain the capital maintenance doctrine and apply it to dividends, buy-backs, and distributions, stating the solvency test
Distinguish ordinary, preference, and redeemable preference shares and state the rights attaching to each
Read a set of financial statements and identify share capital, reserves, retained earnings, and distributable profits
Compute a basic dividend entitlement across a share class structure and check it against distributable profits
State the disclosure requirements for share capital movements in the financial statements

A worked dividend distribution exercise with a written solvency and distributable profits justification

Week 6

Compare the grounds and procedures for members' voluntary, creditors' voluntary, and compulsory winding up, including the statutory timelines
Explain the pari passu and preferential debt rules and rank a list of creditors accordingly
Outline the corporate rescue mechanisms available, including schemes of arrangement, judicial management, and the corporate voluntary arrangement, and state when each is triggered
Set out the essential elements of a valid contract and apply them to a one-page commercial scenario
Distinguish a partnership from a limited liability partnership and state the liability and registration consequences of each

A creditor ranking worksheet plus a one-page comparison of the three corporate rescue mechanisms with trigger conditions

Week 7

Explain the corporate income tax treatment of dividends, including the single-tier system and exempt accounts
Identify the indirect tax obligations a company secretary must monitor, including service tax registration thresholds and filing cycles
State the record-keeping and return filing obligations under the relevant tax statutes and the penalties for non-compliance
Apply the agency and partnership liability rules to two short commercial disputes

A tax compliance calendar for a fictional company covering one financial year, with each filing dated and its statutory basis cited

Week 8

Sit two full timed mock papers under exam conditions and score each against the official domain weightings
Revisit the two weakest domains identified by mock performance and rewrite the underlying notes into condensed revision cards
Recite from memory the key statutory thresholds: notice periods, filing deadlines, share capital rules, and winding-up timelines
Practise 20 scenario-based questions where the answer requires applying a rule rather than recalling it

Two scored mock papers with a written error log listing every missed question, its domain, and the corrected rule

Week 2: Score at least 75% on a self-made 30-question test drawn only from Domain 1, with every wrong answer traced to a specific section

Week 4: Produce the mock secretarial file unaided and have it checked against a statutory checklist with no critical omissions

Week 6: Correctly rank all creditors in the worksheet and name the trigger condition for each rescue mechanism without notes

Week 8: Average at least 70% across both mock papers, with no single domain scoring below 60%