At management meetings, important decisions are often made that affect the work of the entire organization. The board meeting minutes document is official. It reflects the course of the meeting of the management of the company as well as the decisions taken as a result of it.
General Principles of Board Meeting Minutes
Board Meeting Minutes is a fairly common document. With the help of the protocol, various interrogations, meetings, official events, incidents, etc. are recorded. The board meeting minutes can be either detailed, involving a verbatim record of what is happening in the process, or abbreviated, in which only important events and decisions are made.
Board Meeting Minutes’ Functions
Any Board Meeting Minutes performs two essential functions, namely:
- it reflects the course of the meeting;
- it is a document certifying the fact of making certain decisions (for example, the establishment of a limited liability company, staff reduction, the introduction of a new staff unit, etc.).
The date and agenda of the meeting are determined in advance. For this purpose, an administrative document may be issued for the organization. The course of the board meeting can be recorded both in writing and with the help of video or audio recording. In this case, an abbreviated protocol is drawn up, in which only the agenda items and the decision taken as a result of the discussion are entered. The board meeting minutes document indicates the details of the audio or video file from which the decryption was made.
Who Draws Up the Board Meeting Minutes?
Generally, the secretary of the meeting is appointed to draw up the minutes of the meeting of board of directors. He/she is entrusted with the duty to accurately and unambiguously reflect in the minutes the key points of the meeting and the meaning of the decisions made.
The secretary is usually an office worker or legal adviser, but another person may also be appointed. The minutes can be signed either by the secretary or the chairman of the meeting. As a rule, this issue is discussed in advance.
How Is the Board Meeting Minutes Document Drawn Up?
Any protocol has several mandatory sections. However, additional items can be added to it for the needs of a particular meeting. There is no statutory form for the minutes of the meeting of the board of directors. An organization can develop its protocol template and use it. For the minutes of the meeting of the board of directors to have legal force, the following mandatory attributes must be present in it:
- The “header” of the protocol indicates the place and date of its compilation.
- Under the heading, the name of the document is written: “Minutes of the meeting of the board of directors (name of organization) No. …”.
- The composition of the participants in the meeting is listed below.
- The next section is the agenda. It usually includes several issues and is negotiated before the meeting.
- Depending on whether the minutes are complete or abbreviated, the transcript of the discussion of each agenda item may include a verbatim transmission of all that was said by the participants of the meeting on this issue or only the results.
- Results of the meeting contain a description of the decisions taken at the meeting and are usually presented in the form of a list.
- Signatures: the minutes are signed by the chairman and secretary of the board of directors.