Corporate Minutes: What You Need to Know?

| Updated on March 21, 2024

It’s foolhardy not to keep a record of important business decisions because it can put a company’s tax advantages and liability protection at risk. 

Fortunately, a systematic record of corporate minutes and resolutions, which document all major business decisions and the votes taken to approve them, considerably aids in solving the issues. 

Corporate minutes are crucial components for companies to grow and sustain themselves in the marketplace; they can either break or make your company’s reputation. So, what does it take to take more effective corporate minutes at board meetings? Let’s start with the basics.

What are Corporate Minutes?

Corporate minutes refer to the documentation of what board members have talked about during business meetings, such as actions and decisions taken by the company.

Business meeting minutes are usually recorded by the company’s secretary and then sent out to all participants afterward.

While the requirements for business meeting minutes vary by company and state, the main objective behind the documentation of major decisions is usually the same: to hold the company liable for ethical operation under the company’s bylaws.

Also, keeping a record of corporate meetings demonstrates that the company holds frequent board meetings.

What Should Corporate Minutes Include and Exclude?

Things Corporate Meeting Minutes Should Include

Simply put, whoever is jotting down the corporate minutes should record the major decisions that were made, the topics related to the organization’s strategic directions, and the action plans that came out of the board meeting.

It’s not necessary to write down every single bit of it. Nonetheless, you should know what topics were discussed, who suggested what, and who all are responsible for the assigned tasks.

Here is a list of some of the corporate minutes’ requirements that you need to keep in mind while recording:

  • Name of the company
  • Date of the meeting
  • Time and location of the meeting
  • Type of the meeting (annual meeting, special meeting, etc.)
  • The names of participants
  • Name of the person chairing the meeting
  • If there was any quorum
  • The objective of the meeting
  • List of agenda items
  • A detailed report of who all voted and how
  • When the board meeting was adjourned

Apart from this, corporate minutes should also note if anyone left or arrived late to the business meeting.

Corporate meeting minutes examples

The hiring of new employees, financial transactions, issuance of new stock, and new board officer announcements are a few examples of the type of decisions that should be a part of corporate meeting minutes.

Things Corporate Meeting Minutes Should Exclude

While it’s important to know what to include in a corporate meeting, it’s equally vital to know what shouldn’t be a part of your corporate meeting minute.

Thus, eliminating irrelevant information keeps your corporate meeting minutes from exposing your board to legal issues.

Examples of corporate minutes that shouldn’t be a part of your record:

  • Any technical terms
  • Personal observations
  • Aggressive remarks

When Should You Use the Corporate Minutes Template?

You should use a corporation minutes template when you need to write a summary of topics addressed during the business meeting of the board of directors.

Also, the board is responsible for fiduciary and legal duties, so it’s crucial to keep a record of actions and decisions that the board takes during a business meeting.

What’s more, taking corporate minutes using board meeting software has indeed become a good practice for enhancing corporate governance.

Business Meeting Minutes Template

Using a template to record corporate minutes saves time and other valuable resources including money. Instead of writing and organizing the files on the go, using a preset template makes it easy to record corporate minutes promptly.

Here’s a free corporate minutes template that reflects the structure of the official business meeting:

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Who is Responsible for Maintaining Corporate Meeting Minutes?

The majority of the states require C and S corporations to retain a record of crucial company decisions and meetings.

Oklahoma, Nevada, Delaware, Kansas, and North Dakota are the only states that don’t require corporate minutes to be preserved.

Also, corporations constituted as LLCs are exempt from retaining corporate minutes.

The Takeaway

In an era of the digital world, you can’t squander a single second recording sloppy corporate minutes at your organization’s meeting. Although keeping a record of business minutes isn’t mandatory in every state, doing so is always a smart move.

All recording meeting minutes takes is an understanding of what should and should not be a part of a business meeting minute.

With these strategies in your backpack, you will be able to seamlessly streamline your meeting follow-ups and get back focusing on achieving your company’s goals.


John M. Flood

John is a crypto enthusiast, Fintech writer, and stock trader. His writings provide guides to perform your best in the crypto world and stock planet. He is a B-Tech graduate from Stanford University and also holds a certification in creative writing. John also has 5 years of experience in exploring and understanding better about the FinTech industry. Over time, he gained experience and expertise by implementing his customized strategies to play in the crypto market.

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