By definition, minutes are a historical record of what was done at a duly constituted meeting. Minutes are not a record of what someone wished had been done at a meeting. It is not appropriate to alter substantive decisions that were actually made by modifying the minutes.

There are, however, a few complications to consider.

First, an example. I was recently asked whether it was okay to rescind a motion that was adopted at a previous meeting by taking it out of the minutes. Clearly, this practice would amount to altering history. The minutes should reflect the original decision. A motion to rescind the original decision can be considered and recorded at the later meeting, but the record of the earlier meeting should be kept intact.

If it is desirable to show in the minutes of the earlier meeting that the decision was rescinded at a subsequent meeting, this can be done via a footnote at the bottom of the page on which the original decision is shown.

The above principles should always be applied when it comes to recording decisions. To prevent the need to amend a decision after the fact, efforts should be made to articulate motions or consensus clearly and concisely before they are finalized, and ensure that everyone understands what they are voting on.

Things are somewhat different when minutes show not only the decisions that were made, but also record discussions and capture the thought process that led to decisions. In such cases, the minute taker sometimes misses the intent and spirit of the discussions, and it may then be appropriate to change the minutes to reflect what the group believes the most relevant points were.

But the worst arguments occur when minutes are a verbatim record of what was said at a meeting. People complain: "I did not say this, and - even if did - that is absolutely not what I meant." In this case, you may make a point that minutes should show what individuals actually said, and that a minute taker should not be expected to interpret what individuals meant. However, this point would be irrelevant if verbatim minutes were avoided, and if attribution of comments to individuals were avoided or minimized. In other words, don't treat the surface problem (Who said what), but avoid minutes that focus on personal comments.