Most states require that corporations hold regular shareholder meetings and keep minutes of such meetings. While S corporation meeting minutes are not required to be filed with the state, you should keep copies of meeting minutes with your corporate books and records.
Information captured in an LLC's annual meeting minutes usually includes: The meeting's date, time, and location. Who wrote the minutes. The names of the members in attendance. Brief description of the meeting agenda. Details about what the members discussed. Decisions made or voting actions taken.
What happens if a minute book is not maintained? If evidence is uncovered that a corporate entity's actions are not documented in historic or active record keeping, the shareholders, members, and management could lose personal liability protection – a situation referred to as “piercing the corporate veil.”
(1) Every company shall cause minutes of the proceedings of every general meeting of any class of shareholders or creditors, and every resolution passed by postal ballot and every meeting of its Board of Directors or of every committee of the Board, to be prepared and signed in such manner as may be prescribed and kept ...
Most states require S-corporations and C-corporations to take meeting minutes whenever the company's shareholders or board of directors meet, usually once a year for shareholder's meetings and once a year for director's meetings. (Delaware, Kansas, Nevada, North Dakota, and Oklahoma don't require minutes.)
Corporations are required to hold meetings only once a year, especially if the corporation is small. The corporation must give adequate notice to company shareholders or directors and maintain annual meeting minutes, which are a written record of proceedings at the meeting.
Do Meeting Minutes Have to Be Approved? Until the meeting minutes are approved, they are not considered an official record of the meeting. Approval is a critical step that cannot be missed. The corporate secretary's approved version of the minutes is considered to be the official record.
The minutes should follow the order of the agenda, with a basic, almost vague, summary sentence or two for each item, along with the name of the person who presented it. Votes taken should appear in their place of order in the agenda. Generally, don't include names.
Under Robert's Rules of Order, the board may approve minutes that do not come up for review quarterly. Since annual meetings are yearly, not quarterly, the board can approve the minutes. "Minutes of one annual meeting should not be held for action until the next one a year later." (RONR 12th ed.) .
This document needs to be signed by: or another person who is authorized to take minutes and/or record official corporate action. There is no requirement that the signature be witnessed or notarized.