SOCIETY: Nail-filers need not apply

Secretaries are doing it for themselves. Nearly half now wield a degree of financial muscle within their companies. Fourty-six per cent of secretaries, many of whom are now called anything from 'Office Manager' to 'Business Adminstrator', can authorise expenditure on their own, without having to ask for additional clearance elsewhere in the company, according to a survey of 248 secretaries by recruitment specialists Reed Employment Services.

Nearly 30 per cent of those surveyed could sanction spending up to pounds 1,000 on their own authority, with 18 per cent having higher limits or an unlimited amount which they can sign off on any one project without have to clear their decisions by a manager.

Out of the total sample, 12 per cent can sign off between pounds 1,000 and pounds 10,000 on any one project, with 2 per cent able to sign off between pounds 10,000 and pounds 50,000, and 4 per cent either having no set limit or an unlimited budget in their own control.

Many secretaries are said to be fed-up with colleagues and employers who under-value the term 'secretary'. When asked what they would like to be called, they made suggestions such as Manager to the Managing Director, El Supremo, or even Chief Dogsbody.