DIRECTORS’ MEETING MINUTES: WHY ARE THEY SO IMPORTANT?
The Companies Act (the Act) gives directors the power to run
and manage the company’s business. In return it places responsibilities and
personal liabilities on directors who do not fulfil their fiduciary duties.
What is required of directors’ meeting minutes? Meetings of directors are to be kept and must contain at least:
As meetings of directors decide on the strategic direction of
the company, the recording of these meetings is critical in reflecting what
decisions are taken and how they are arrived at.
The Act also requires that directors understand the issues facing the company and take time to formulate their own, independent views, so they can actively contribute at directors meetings. The minutes should also reflect this. Adequate control is to be exercised over minutes to ensure they are a fair reflection of the meeting. They should be circulated amongst the directors to prevent any omissions or misleading statements. As illustrated by recent revelations on State Owned Companies, this is a vital point to prevent malfeasance and ensure directors act only in the best interests of the company. The golden rules of good minutes Like a good newspaper article, minutes should follow the 5 Ws:
Finally, there needs to be a balance between confidentiality
and transparency in terms of disclosure to staff and stakeholders. As minutes
can be used by statutory bodies (such as SARS, the Competition Board etc), it
is best to get a legal opinion as to what to record about contentious
issues.
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