Meeting Minutes and what they mean for your business

So you have just formed your company. Congratulations you are now heading into an exciting adventure and here at MadeSimple we are here to help you along the way so that you can Change your life. For more information on what we can do for you and your business see here for more information.

When you form a company there will be a lot of different things that you need to suddenly think about which you didn’t have to before. It is crucial that at this time that you keep track of your all important meeting minutes. Essentially this is the formalising of all of the key decisions that occur within your company – something which will be covered in more detail later on.

It is important that from the outset that all the structures of your company become clear to yourself and all parties concerned – this blog will show you why:

It’s a statutory requirement

Keeping up to date minutes of all your company meetings can often be something that gets neglected and lost in all the other various admin. This is however a mistake as it is in fact a legal requirement to keep these kind of records under the Companies Act 2006. According to the Company Law Club “Not only is there a statutory requirement to keep proper records, such minutes may be crucially important as evidence of what occurred, which could be of major importance if the parties disagree or there are disputes with third parties.”

As a new company it’s important to keep your proverbial house in order. So don’t get off to a bad start – keep all your minutes of key decisions recorded and made completely transparent. The last thing you would want is for your company to endure legal quandaries just from being careless.

Allows you to keep on top of all key changes

In the life of a new company it is very likely that, from time to time, there will be things that change. For example Directors may leave and new ones may be appointed. Equally your business might grow so it will need a new office address. There’s a vast array of scenarios in which key parts of the company may well alter based on changing circumstances. It is therefore  in your best interests to keep up to date records of the changes that your company has gone through. The typical type of changes that should be recorded in meeting minutes would include:

1. Registered office alterations.

2. Officer (director) resignations as well as new appointments.

3. New share alternation – this includes transferring or issuing new ones.

4. Deciding on the next directors meeting.

Discuss new business and establish director duties.

It’s not just legal requirements that meeting minutes can establish – they can also be used to discuss more general matters, and to agree on points of new business between directors. Directors have the chance to have their say on matters related to the business and are given a formal outlet to have their say on future actions and decisions. In addition to this meeting minutes also act as a forum to establish specific duties for each director.

According to legal services site RocketLawyer directors are bound to follow specific instructions contained within the company’s Memorandum and Articles and Articles of Association to ensure that they do all they can to make the company a success.  If they do not follow the procedures laid out then they can be “Found personally liable and fined or disqualified from acting as a director if they don’t observe the rules, so it’s important to try and follow them”

At Company Formation MadeSimple we offer Meeting Minutes in all of our company formation packages. We hope that you found this useful. If you would be interested in knowing more about us and what we do see here for more information.

By David Goulden at MadeSimple – Follow David on Google +