Minutes, meeting notes and file notes are different documents
It helps to separate them before you start, because firms often try to make one document do all three jobs.
Minutes are the agreed record of a meeting, usually circulated to everyone who attended and approved at the next meeting. Meeting notes are the team’s working record of a conversation, written for the people doing the work. A file note is the formal internal record for the client file, with the advice given and its caveats. We have separate guides to client meeting notes templates and the file note template for accountants.
Meeting minutes template
Copy this into a document or your practice management system. Delete the headings you don’t need rather than leaving them empty.
MEETING MINUTES
Meeting:
Date, time and location (or video link):
Chair:
Minutes taken by:
Present:
Apologies:
In attendance (not voting):
1. Welcome and apologies
2. Minutes of the previous meeting
Approved as a true record / approved with these changes:
3. Matters arising from the previous minutes
- Item | Update | Status
4. Agenda items
4.1 Item:
Discussion (short summary):
Decision:
4.2 Item:
Discussion (short summary):
Decision:
5. Actions
- Action | Owner | Due date
6. Any other business
7. Next meeting
Date, time and location:
Minutes approved by (name and date):The “Matters arising” section is the one that earns its place. It forces last meeting’s actions back onto the table, so nothing agreed three weeks ago quietly disappears.
Partner meeting minutes template
Partner and leadership meetings tend to decide things that affect the whole firm: hiring, pricing, clients to take on or let go, and capacity. Minutes matter here because the decision is often revisited months later by someone who wasn’t in the room.
PARTNER MEETING MINUTES
Date:
Present:
Apologies:
Chair:
1. Previous minutes and open actions
- Action | Owner | Status
2. Firm performance this period
- Figures reviewed:
- Points raised:
3. Capacity and workload
- Where the team is stretched:
- Decision:
4. Clients
- New clients proposed | Decision
- Clients to review or exit | Decision
5. People
- Hiring, roles and changes | Decision
6. Decisions made (one line each)
-
7. Actions
- Action | Owner | Due date
Next meeting:Keep item 6 even when the decisions are already written under each item above. It gives anyone reading the minutes later a single place to see what was agreed.
Client advisory meeting minutes template
Some client meetings need more than notes: a quarterly advisory meeting with a business owner and their management team, for example, where decisions are made on both sides. Minutes give the client a record they can share with the people who weren’t there.
CLIENT ADVISORY MEETING MINUTES
Client:
Date:
Attendees (client):
Attendees (firm):
1. Actions from the last meeting
- Action | Owner (client or firm) | Status
2. Results since the last meeting
- Figures reviewed:
- Questions raised:
3. Topics discussed
3.1 Topic:
What was discussed:
What was agreed:
4. Advice given (with assumptions and caveats)
-
5. Decisions made by the client
-
6. Actions
- Client actions | Owner | Due date
- Firm actions | Owner | Due date
7. Next meeting:Split the actions into client and firm. It is the quickest way to stop “I thought you were doing that” at the next meeting. If you send these minutes by email, pair them with a short follow-up email after the meeting rather than attaching them with no context.
Client board meeting minutes template
Some accountants take minutes for a client’s board, or are asked to check them. Company law and the company’s own constitution set what board minutes must contain and how long they are kept, and those rules differ between Australia, the UK and the US. Treat this as a starting structure only, and confirm the requirements for your client.
BOARD MEETING MINUTES
Company:
Date, time and place:
Chair:
Directors present:
Apologies:
In attendance:
Quorum present: yes / no
1. Opening and apologies
2. Declarations of interest
3. Minutes of the previous meeting
Resolved that the minutes of the meeting held on [date] be approved.
4. Matters arising
5. Reports
- Financial report:
- Other reports:
6. Resolutions
6.1 Resolved that:
Proposed by: | Seconded by:
7. Actions
- Action | Owner | Due date
8. Next meeting
Signed (Chair): Date:How to write good minutes
Write decisions as decisions. “Agreed to move the client to monthly bookkeeping from March” is a decision. “Discussed bookkeeping frequency” is not, and nobody can act on it.
Summarise the discussion, don’t transcribe it.Summarize the discussion, don’t transcribe it. A line or two on why a decision was made is useful later. A paragraph of who said what usually isn’t, and it can create problems if the minutes are read by someone outside the meeting.
Give every action an owner and a date. An action that belongs to “the team” belongs to nobody.
Send the draft quickly. Minutes written the same day are more accurate than minutes written from memory a week later, and the actions start moving sooner.
Keep them where the client record lives. Minutes saved to someone’s desktop can’t be found when they’re needed. File them in your practice management system with the rest of the client’s history.
Or let Vinyl write the minutes
Writing minutes is the job that eats the half hour after every meeting. Vinyl records your Zoom, Teams or Google Meet call, or an in-person meeting through the mobile app, and writes meeting minutes and Board Minutes from the same recording, alongside the summary, the action items and a draft follow-up email. You check them before they go anywhere, and they can be filed to the client in Karbon or FYI. See how automated meeting summaries work, or compare plans on the pricing page.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should meeting minutes include?
At a minimum: the meeting name, date and attendees, the decisions made, and the actions agreed with an owner and a due date. Most minutes also record apologies, approval of the previous minutes and the date of the next meeting. Formal board minutes usually need more, such as whether a quorum was present and the exact wording of resolutions.
What is the difference between meeting minutes and meeting notes?
Minutes are the agreed, formal record of a meeting, usually circulated to all attendees and approved at the next meeting. Meeting notes are an informal working record for the people doing the work. The client meeting notes templates cover the informal version.
Who should take the minutes?
Someone who isn’t chairing or leading the discussion, because it is hard to do both well. In a small firm that is often the person who will own most of the actions. An AI meeting assistant can draft the minutes from the recording so nobody has to take them by hand.
Can AI write meeting minutes?
Yes. An AI meeting assistant can draft minutes from a recording of the meeting, including the decisions and actions. Review the draft before you circulate it, particularly figures, names and the wording of any decision, the same way you would check minutes a colleague wrote.
How soon should minutes be sent after a meeting?
As soon as you can, ideally the same day or the next. People correct a draft more accurately while the meeting is still fresh, and actions start sooner when the owners can see them in writing.
