For every board discussion, company secretarial services in Singapore are required to take down the minutes of the meeting. Taking down the minutes is essential because this provides a synopsis for all meetings, which can therefore be used to document the company’s progress throughout time.
For this
reason, the minutes of the meeting record is considered a legal document in
Singapore, where all private and public companies are required to prepare and
keep within one month of the meeting. They're especially important because they
accomplish the following tasks:
● Serve as a permanent record
● Summarise entire proceedings
● Measure progress
● Aid in accountability
Due to its
integral role in the company’s operations, it’s crucial to know how to prepare
minutes with the highest efficiency possible. So, to improve the quality of the
minutes of the meeting, here are some tips that can guide corporate secretarial
services Singapore in preparing this important document in the future.
Plan beforehand
Like most
aspects of business, a good minutes of the meeting requires planning ahead of
time. That said, before starting a meeting, it's crucial to have a prior
discussion with the company's president or another relevant party to clarify
expectations and determine the perfect meeting minutes format to use.
Through this
pre-meeting discussion, you can set a thorough agenda and prepare a template
that can help you take down information much more conveniently.
Create a template using the meeting’s agenda
The template
varies per meeting agenda. While some meetings require only a basic template,
others require more elaborate ones. To know which one you’ll need for future
meetings, here are the top four templates available:
● Basic
meeting template is a
flexible and convenient template for different types of meetings. It contains
organised headlines that are also easy to navigate. Because of its basic style,
this template can display information completely and neatly.
● Microsoft
Word template has a
built-in template you can use. You can browse different meeting minutes
templates from the app itself. Once the template is loaded on the document,
you’ll see different headlines and colour-coded titles to make it easy for you
to fill in the details.
● Google
Docs template is
similar to Microsoft word. The only difference is that Google Docs updates
information in real-time. So, when others have access to the meeting minutes'
file, they can get updated information instantly and even place notes and
comments within the document.
● Project
template is specific
to every project. Unlike the generic templates mentioned above, this template
is customised to the company itself. It contains specific information regarding
the project that no other templates have.
To ensure
that your template suits the objective of every meeting, align its headlines
with the meeting's agenda. Having a template on hand should make taking notes
much easier and more convenient.
Know what details to capture
To know what
details you need to capture, pay close attention to the headlines on the
template. This should serve as your guide when taking down notes. Here's a list
of some of the common details you need to be particular about when
preparing your minutes of the meeting:
● Organisation name
● Purpose or objective/s of the meeting
● Start and end time of the meeting
● Date and place of the meeting
● Number of members present along with their
names and respective positions
● Number of members absent along with their
names and respective positions
● Raised concerns
● Action plan and resolution
● Signature of the corporate secretary and
organisation leader
Although it's ideal to have the complete meeting transcribed for the minutes, it's unnecessary. Some of the banter during the discussion may not hold importance in achieving the objective. As such, company secretary services Singapore need to know what specific information to focus on.
Make a final copy and distribute
After
proofreading your notes and making sure that no information is left out, it's
time to make a final copy and send it to your colleagues. Distributing this
information is a great way to ensure that every employee is aligned and
up-to-date with the latest company information.
For professional assistance, get corporate secretary services to
record meeting minutes in the most efficient way possible.
