What is the simplest way that you use to keep the required* corporate minutes of shareholder/director proceedings?<p>When there is not a lot going on in terms of funding, board changes, etc., I'm wondering what you use out there. Is there a template?<p>[*] at least in California, section 1500
Your board needs to elect a certain specific set of officers, one of which is the Secretary. That is still required even if there is only one board member, as is commonly the case for consulting corporations.<p>Within I think ninety days of your incorporation, you need to file an Information Return with the Secretary of State, that names each officer. It's not a tax return in that you don't send any money with it, but if you don't file it on time, you'll be fined five hundred dollars, and if you don't file it at all, your corporation will be suspended.<p>It's a felony for a suspended corporation to actively do business, as that is considered a form of money laundering.<p>Once you've filed your information return, you're not specifically required to ever hold any board of director meetings. If you don't then you don't have any minutes that you need to keep at all.<p>One thing that you will need though - you can do this in the same meeting as when you elect the officers - the board needs to name a bank for the corporate checking account, as well as to authorize who gets check signing priveliges. Some banks don't enforce this but I encountered one bank that was quite adamant about it and that actually did accuse me of money laundering when I tried to open an account with a Royal Bank of Canada check written by a government agency.
The biggest aid to preparing minutes is to prepare and distribute an agenda before the meeting. Then run through the agenda briefly noting the outcome of any decision and briefly outlining any new business.<p>Meeting minutes are not a transcript. They record actions not process or speeches. What matters is what is binding. Keep the minutes brief and to the point. Distribute them to attendees for comment immediately afterward and you're done.