Well known company director and governance advocate, Henry Bosch, once described minutes as ‘a letter to an unknown judge’. However, these days, as veteran chair Graham Bradley noted in August, we could view them as ‘a letter to an unknown royal commission’.
Bradley was participating in a webcast panel discussion that coincided with the launch of a joint statement by Governance Institute and Australian Institute of Company Directors on board and committee minutes.
The statement, which is based on feedback from both organisations’ members, as well as legal counsels’ opinion, comes at a time when minutes have attracted heightened scrutiny, especially following the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry (the ‘Hayne Inquiry’).