Fractional company secretary
Protecting today.
Planning for tomorrow.
Every board has two responsibilities: protecting the organisation and moving it forward. I help with both: compliance you can rely on, and the advice and support your board needs to evolve.
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When the foundations are sound, governance is a joy.
Why now
When the environment is moving fast, standing still carries risk.
Boards are now bearing a greater load. Directors are feeling the pinch, the community expects more, and regulators are checking the basics.
2nd
Legal and regulatory compliance is the second-biggest issue keeping Australian directors awake at night.
AICD Director Sentiment Index, 1H 20261
46%
of not-for-profit directors spend more than three days a month on a single board. The median has risen from two days to three in seven years.
AICD NFP Governance and Performance Study 2025–262
Over half
of directors say the pace of change is faster than their organisations can keep up with.
AICD Director Sentiment Index, 1H 20263
What Australians expect of organisations
In its Australian Governance Index, the Governance Institute of Australia asked 2,000 Australians how much these governance behaviours matter to them. All seven rated highly, with accountability and fairness at the top.4
89/100
average importance across the seven behaviours
- Accountability
- Fairness
- Competence
- Integrity
- Transparency
- Service
- Stewardship
What this means for your board
This is good news with a challenge attached. Most governance work happens out of view, so fair elections, clear annual reports and well-explained decisions give boards a chance to show they're doing what matters most to Australians: being fair and accountable.
Regulators are checking the basics
ASIC's enforcement priorities include governance and directors' duties failures, and financial reporting misconduct, including failure to lodge financial reports.5
The ACNC's 2026–27 focus includes governing documents that are out of date or not followed in practice.6 The ACNC also finds that charities without appropriate record keeping commonly experience other governance failures, such as inadequate management practices.7
The risk sits with one person
In many organisations the CEO or another executive does the company secretary role in addition to everything else.
Strategy gets what's left
Every hour spent on agendas, minutes and lodgements is an hour taken from the work only your CEO can do. A fractional company secretary gives them that time back.
- AICD, Director Sentiment Index 1H 2026 data pack, p. 10, April 2026
- AICD, Not-for-Profit Governance and Performance Study 2025–26, March 2026
- AICD, Director Sentiment Index 1H 2026 media release, April 2026
- Governance Institute of Australia, Australian Governance Index 2026, October 2026
- ASIC, Enforcement priorities, 2026
- BDO, ACNC 2026–27 regulatory focus areas, August 2026
- ACNC, Regulatory focus
Working together
Experienced support for a fraction of the cost of a full-time hire, and time back for your CEO to lead.
I help boards with both responsibilities. When the compliance work is sound, your board can rely on it and devote more time to strategy.
I'm also someone with senior executive experience in business development and stakeholder engagement, and I've led Commonwealth-funded national programs, so I understand what sits behind the papers your board reads.
You can expect
- Confidence that your obligations are met
- Better information for better decisions
- More board time spent on the impact you want to make
A partner to your board and executive.
I work with you and get to know your people and how your board works: its culture, its information flows and how decisions get made. Together, we build on those foundations, so your board can make decisions with confidence.
Services
Two ways to work together
Additional services are available with either option.
Core services
The work that keeps your board compliant and frees your executive team to focus on their roles.
Board and committee meetings
I handle agendas, papers, minutes, circular resolutions and board correspondence, and track actions so the board's decisions are carried through. Because I'm independent, your minutes will be accurate, balanced and impartial.
Papers that support good decisions
I work with your executive team so board papers arrive on time and make clear what each one needs from the board.
Regulatory obligations
I keep you on track with your ASIC and ACNC requirements, financial reporting deadlines and the rules in your constitution.
Compliance calendar and board workplan
A forward plan of meetings, reporting deadlines, policy review dates and board business, so your board can plan with confidence.
Registers and records
I keep directors' interests, attendance, actions and other registers up to date.
Governance advice
Practical advice on board processes, your constitution and changes in regulatory requirements, working alongside your lawyers and auditors when a matter needs their expertise.
Additional services
Strategic planning
A board set up for the next strategic cycle with resources focused where they matter most.
Facilitating your board and executive team to agree clear priorities, with measures that show whether the plan is working.
Board skills and renewal
A board with the skills to lead through change and new directors who settle quickly.
A skills matrix to guide renewal, and an induction that helps new directors contribute from their first meeting.
Director elections and appointments
Strong directors appointed through a process members and stakeholders trust.
I run your nomination and election process in line with your constitution, or support the recruitment of independent directors.
Policy review
Reduced risk and clear guidance for directors and staff.
I review your policies for substance, testing them against changes in regulatory requirements and in your organisation, so they stay current and support your strategy and risk appetite.
Annual report
Obligations met and your organisation's value clearly shown to members and funders.
A clear, compliant annual report that meets your ASIC or ACNC reporting obligations, coordinated from start to finish.
Something else in mind?
These are examples. If your board or executive team needs other governance support, just ask.
About Mia Dhillon · MPA, GCComm
I've sat on both sides of the board table.
I've spent more than 15 years in not-for-profit health and professional membership organisations, as a CEO and senior executive accountable to boards, and as an independent governance chair and board member. I know what directors need from their papers, and what it takes for an executive team to provide it.
My career began in nursing, in Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. Clinical governance taught me that good care depends on the systems around it: accurate records, quality handovers, and the right information reaching the right people at the right time. Boards work the same way.
I've supported boards through crisis and through renewal, from scenario planning during COVID-19 to a new purpose, values and strategic plan. I've also supported a board through one of the toughest decisions directors can make. Because the foundations were solid, the directors could act knowing they were meeting their duties.
When the essentials run smoothly, directors get to spend their time on what drew them to the board in the first place: the purpose, the people and the future. Helping boards get there is the part of this work I love most.
When the foundations are sound, governance is a joy.
Why The Third Desk?
Every good desk carries its history in the grain. It's where ideas are tested, drafts are debated and plans take shape, and it only gets better with use. The Third Desk is built to be that kind of place, sitting alongside the desks of your board and your executive. Over time, I come to know your people, your history and your ambitions, and offer steady governance support as your board shapes what comes next.
Qualifications
- Master of Public Administration
- Graduate Certificate in Commerce
- Legal Obligations of Officers and Directors
- Secretarial Practice (in progress)
- PRINCE2 Project Management
Together covering governance, strategy, law, finance and project management.
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Answers and reflections for boards
Questions boards ask
Answers to the questions CEOs and chairs ask most about the company secretary role in Australia.
See the FAQsThe business case for a company secretary
Every not-for-profit exists for a purpose. The right company secretary arrangement gives your board and your CEO more time and energy for it.
Read the articleWhether you need steady, reliable compliance or a partner to help your board evolve, let's talk about what that could look like for your board.
Book a 20-minute conversation at a time that suits you, or send me a message and I'll reply within two business days.
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