-
Eliminate small connecting words such as: is, are, was, were, a, an, the, would, this, of.
-
Eliminate pronouns such as: they, these, his, that, them. However, be careful NOT to eliminate these three words: and, in, on.
-
Use symbols to abbreviate, such as:
-
+, & for and, plus
= for equals
- for minus
# for number
x for times
> for greater than, more, larger
< for less than, smaller, fewer than
w/ for with
w/o for without
w/in for within
----> for leads to, produces, results in
<---- for comes from
/ for per
5.5.9 The minutes of a meeting
-
Minutes are a brief, summarised record of the procedure followed at a meeting
-
Minutes record discussions and decisions taken
-
Minutes must be a factually correct report of a meeting
-
The secretary who takes down the minutes must be objective and not allow personal reactions or the mood of the meeting to influence his report
-
Decisions made and instructions given should be minuted verbatim
-
Minutes are written in the past tense.
The name of the organisation, place, date and time of the meeting
Capital letters are used.
The heading need not be underlined
The names of all the members who attended the meeting are recorded
The chairperson’s name is usually given first
The designation, e.g. managing director, may be written after the names of members who fulfil a role.
-
Minutes of the previous meeting
The secretary confirms that the minutes of the previous meeting were read, accepted and signed by the chairman
Matters arising from the previous meeting may now be discussed.
The facts are carefully minuted by the secretary.
(This item is the most important part and the actual reason why the present meeting is being held).
The secretary carefully minutes what is important about each discussion. Vitally important is recording what has been agreed and resolved.
Only the time when the meeting ended is minuted.
The secretary may minute the chairman’s thanks to the people who arranged the meeting and who served refreshments.
-
The chairman’s initials and surname are typed at the end of the minutes with enough space for his signature and the date.
5.5.10 Necessity of minutes
The principal uses and value of minutes may be summarised as follows:
-
they constitute the permanent official record of the business transacted at meetings;
-
they are available for inspection by interested parties, e.g. the directors, the secretary and the auditors;
-
they can be produced as evidence in legal proceedings.
-
They provide a written reminder of what members have undertaken to do and by when.
It is interesting to note that if it can be proven that a resolution was indeed passed but was left out of the minutes, it can be deemed valid.
However, there is no common-law rule that minutes must be kept, and an unincorporated association need not keep minutes of the proceedings of its meetings unless it is required to do so by statue or by its constitution.
For example, there is no statute applicable to sporting bodies and they are not obliged to keep minutes unless the rules of the particular club so require. It is, however, highly desirable that every association of persons should record proceedings of its meetings in a minute book as this would eliminate much argument in the event of a dispute.
It should be noted that the signature of the chairperson to the minutes of both general meetings and of board and managers’ meetings not only makes them evidence but constitutes them prima facie correct.
5.5.11 Minutes of narration
Formalities
The minutes of every meeting should set out the following:
-
the nature of the meeting
-
the date, time and place at which it was held
-
how the meeting was constituted, for example who occupied the chair, and what other persons were present i.e. either their individual names or a reference to the attendance register in which their names are to be found, or, in the case of a general meeting at which an attendance register was not kept, a statement of the number of members present (which will, of course, need to be in excess of the necessary quorum)
-
any apologies for absence that have been received by the chairperson or the secretary
-
the names of persons attending ex officio e.g. attorneys, auditors, etc., who may have been present, and of all paid officials who were in attendance
-
a statement that the chairperson declared the meeting duly constituted
-
a record of the approval of the minutes of the previous meeting, if indeed they were approved at the meeting.
5.5.12 Minutes of resolution
-
Each decision should be recorded in a separate sentence commencing: ‘it was RESOLVED: That’, the exact wording of the resolution (as amended, if such was the case) being reproduced.
-
These decisions should be recorded in the order in which they were agreed to at the meeting.
-
A motion that was submitted to the meeting but was not adopted should normally not be included unless the member moving it expressly requests that it be recorded as submitted but defeated.
-
Where important matters are being decided, the objections of individual members, particularly at board meetings, should be recorded, especially when there is a request for such record to be made.
-
In addition to the decisions taken at the meeting, the minutes should explicitly record full details of all contracts, matters of a financial nature, appointments, and other actions that were approved or authorised, but trivial matters should be rigidly excluded.
-
Whilst brevity is desirable, and unnecessary detail is to be avoided, care must be exercised to ensure that the exact intention of the meeting is accurately, explicitly, and unequivocally recorded.
-
Where a draft agreement or other important document is submitted to a meeting of members for their approval, the nature and, if practicable, the main terms of the agreement should be stated in the minutes, or the document should be otherwise identified.
-
A method of identifying a document is to refer to it in the minutes as ‘the draft agreement of 4 May 2007 which is initialled by the chairperson for purposes of identification.’
-
It is advisable to attach a copy of the agreement to the minutes that record the approval thereof, unless this is too bulky to be practicable.
-
The minutes will usually conclude with a statement that the chairperson declared that the business of the meeting was completed, or that the proceedings terminated.
-
This will be followed by some such formula as ‘Signed as correct record.’
………………… 20…….. ……………………………………
Dostları ilə paylaş: |
