CSSA Best Practice Guide - Minuting Meetings

Introduction

This guide is the outcome of a project undertaken by the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (ICSA) Thought Leadership Committee in collaboration with CSSA and other ICSA divisions to develop a comparative analysis of global best practices in minute taking following an earlier ICSA research into the topic, and to identify practical suggestions for the minute taker. The aim is to provide global guidance on good practice, to reflect the reality of modern market practice on a cross-sectoral and cross-cultural basis.

The CSSA survey was led by Natasha Bouwman FCIS (Director of CSSA, and member of the Thought Leadership Committee, ICSA) with input from Stephen Sadie (Chief Executive Officer of CSSA) and the CSSA Technical Committee. CSSA received numerous responses from respondents in South Africa. Respondents included company secretaries of listed companies, companies in the public sector, professional company secretarial service providers and professional consultants.

Minuting meetings forms a vital part of the company secretary’s role and must be given the necessary detailed attention. There are various facets to minuting meetings, which is a specialised skill. This paper looks at a number of these areas of minute-taking and provides CSSA’s view on each topic identified. Topics addressed in this paper include:

• Principal function of meeting minutes
• Significant legal or regulatory requirements that should be referenced in guidance
• Responsibility for production of minutes
• Drafting minutes
• Conflicts of interest
• Editing minutes
• Access to minutes
• Retention of company secretary’s notes of meetings
• Other helpful observations on minuting meetings

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