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The differences between corporate secretaries and executive secretaries can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-2 years to become a corporate secretary, becoming an executive secretary takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a corporate secretary has an average salary of $88,550, which is higher than the $46,594 average annual salary of an executive secretary.
The top three skills for a corporate secretary include corporate governance, proxy and meeting minutes. The most important skills for an executive secretary are office procedures, payroll, and word processing.
| Corporate Secretary | Executive Secretary | |
| Yearly salary | $88,550 | $46,594 |
| Hourly rate | $42.57 | $22.40 |
| Growth rate | -8% | -8% |
| Number of jobs | 16,480 | 103,802 |
| Job satisfaction | 5 | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 53% | Bachelor's Degree, 44% |
| Average age | 50 | 49 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 4 |
A Corporate Secretary works in promoting corporate governance and regulatory compliance. They make certain that the board of directors is equipped with the necessary tools and information in fulfilling their shareholder obligations. They ensure the integrity of an enterprise's governance framework. It is their responsibility to ensure the efficiency of business administration in compliance with regulatory and statutory requirements. Corporate Secretaries also implement the decisions of the board.
The primary role of executive secretaries is to provide clerical support to an executive or a high-level administrator. They are the ones who conduct the different administrative support tasks for executives which include managing the calendar of executives, answering phone calls, conducting research and sorting important files, preparing and proofreading monthly reports and industry documents that are relevant to the role of executives, and performing some bookkeeping activities such as invoice creation and office inventory tracking.
Corporate secretaries and executive secretaries have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Corporate Secretary | Executive Secretary | |
| Average salary | $88,550 | $46,594 |
| Salary range | Between $59,000 And $132,000 | Between $31,000 And $69,000 |
| Highest paying City | - | New York, NY |
| Highest paying state | - | New York |
| Best paying company | - | InfosysPublicService |
| Best paying industry | - | Government |
There are a few differences between a corporate secretary and an executive secretary in terms of educational background:
| Corporate Secretary | Executive Secretary | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 53% | Bachelor's Degree, 44% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | Western Carolina University |
Here are the differences between corporate secretaries' and executive secretaries' demographics:
| Corporate Secretary | Executive Secretary | |
| Average age | 50 | 49 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 24.5% Female, 75.5% | Male, 7.7% Female, 92.3% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 9.1% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 15.9% Asian, 3.8% White, 66.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% | Black or African American, 7.6% Unknown, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino, 11.2% Asian, 5.0% White, 71.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 10% |