Boardrooms & Corporate Governance

Board minutes and meeting transcription
your board and auditors can rely on.

Nguma produces structured minutes, resolution records, and action trackers for board meetings, audit and risk committees, AGMs, and executive forums. Confidential by design: Australian-hosted, and never used to train AI models. ASIC and APRA defensible. Accessible only to named users.

The risk in common practice

What your current tools do with your board’s content.

AI meeting tools are widely used in boardrooms. Most were designed for productivity, not for the confidentiality obligations that govern board deliberations. The gap between convenience and compliance is where your exposure sits.

Confidentiality risk

Board deliberations routed through overseas servers

Tools like Otter.ai, Fireflies, Microsoft Copilot, and Zoom AI Companion route meeting audio through data centres in the United States or Europe. Board deliberations on material non-public information, M&A discussions, and audit findings processed offshore engage APP 8 of the Privacy Act 1988 and create confidentiality exposure that most boards have not formally assessed. The fact that the tool is convenient does not make the exposure acceptable.

“Where is our board meeting content processed and stored, and who has contractual access to it?”
Regulatory risk

Model training on board content

Most mainstream AI meeting tools train their models on customer content by default unless explicitly opted out at the enterprise tier. Board deliberations on strategy, M&A targets, executive performance, and audit findings are among the most commercially sensitive content any organisation generates. The prospect of that content informing a commercial AI model is a material risk that remuneration committees, audit committees, and legal counsel should be examining.

“Can you confirm our board meeting recordings are not used to train AI models?”
Governance risk

Minutes produced from AI without human review

Some AI meeting tools produce minutes or summaries automatically, without a human reviewing the output against the source audio before it is circulated. Board minutes are a legal record under the Corporations Act 2001. Minutes that misattribute a resolution, omit a dissenting view, or inaccurately record a decision create liability for the company and its directors. Human review of every set of minutes is not optional.

“Was this set of minutes reviewed by a human against the audio before it was circulated?”
Designed for every governance forum

Every session where the record matters.

Output type and access controls are configured per forum. The compliance posture is the same across all of them.

Structured minutes

Board meetings

Director-level deliberations with resolution and decision tracking. Action items with owners and due dates. Director attribution preserved throughout. Minute-ready format for board approval at the following meeting.

Corporations Act 2001 · ASIC scrutiny
Structured minutes

Audit and risk committees

Defensible record for ASIC, APRA, and external audit scrutiny. Financial reporting discussions, internal audit findings, and risk appetite deliberations documented with full attribution and resolution tracking.

ASIC · APRA · External audit
Structured minutes

Annual General Meetings

Member questions and director responses on the public record. Resolution outcomes and voting records. Shareholder engagement documented accurately and in full, with the audio available for post-meeting verification.

ASX Listing Rules · Corporations Act
Structured minutes

Executive committee meetings

ExCo and SES committee minutes with action and decision tracking. Confidential access restricted to named executive participants. Same-day or next-day turnaround to keep pace with executive decision cycles.

Confidential · Named-user access
Confidential verbatim

M&A diligence interviews

Confidential interviews conducted under legal privilege and confidentiality undertakings. Verbatim record with named-party access only. Without-prejudice handling available. Chain-of-custody log from the first word to the final transcript.

Legal privilege · Without-prejudice
Structured minutes

Remuneration committees

Sensitive executive performance and remuneration deliberations. Strict access controls; content restricted to committee members and authorised advisers only. Minute-ready output with resolution and determination tracking.

Highly confidential · Restricted access
Compliance obligations

The frameworks your board record must satisfy.

Board minutes are a legal record, not an administrative convenience. Every framework below creates a specific obligation that the minutes and the process used to produce them must meet.

Corporations Act 2001, s251A

Accurate minutes as a legal obligation

Section 251A requires a company to keep minute books recording resolutions passed and proceedings of directors’ meetings. Minutes signed by the chair are evidence of the proceedings recorded. An AI-generated summary circulated without human review against the source audio is not a compliant process for producing a legal record.

Every Nguma output reviewed and approved by a named human before circulation.
ASIC and APRA scrutiny

Defensibility under regulatory examination

When ASIC or APRA examine a board’s decision-making process, the minutes are the primary evidence of what was discussed and decided. Minutes that cannot be verified against a source audio record, or that were produced by a tool with no audit trail, are significantly harder to defend than those produced through a documented, human-reviewed process with chain-of-custody preserved.

Full audit trail from audio capture to approved minutes. Audio available for verification.
Privacy Act 1988, APP 8

Cross-border processing of personal information

Board meetings routinely involve discussion of individuals: executive performance, remuneration, personnel matters, and M&A counterparties. Where any of that discussion involves personal information, APP 8 is engaged if the recording is processed by an offshore AI tool. The cross-border disclosure risk applies to corporate governance proceedings as much as it does to any other context.

All processing in Australia. No offshore transfer for storage.
ASX Listing Rules (listed entities)

Continuous disclosure and meeting records

For ASX-listed companies, board and committee meetings where material information is discussed create continuous disclosure obligations. Accurate, contemporaneous minutes that document when the board became aware of material information, what was discussed, and what decisions were made are essential to demonstrating continuous disclosure compliance and defending against market-sensitive claims.

Contemporaneous record with timestamp and attribution throughout.
Legal privilege and confidentiality

Privileged content and M&A proceedings

Board sessions conducted with legal counsel present, or M&A diligence interviews conducted under privilege, require handling that preserves the privileged character of the content. Routing privileged deliberations through a general-purpose AI tool risks inadvertent waiver. Nguma’s matter-level access controls and named-user restrictions support privilege preservation.

Named-user access only; without-prejudice handling available.
No model training on board content

Board deliberations never leave your control

Nguma contractually guarantees that customer audio, transcripts, and metadata are never used to train AI models or improve the Nguma service. For board content, this is not a configuration setting or an enterprise-tier option; it is a hard contractual prohibition that applies to every engagement at every tier.

Contractually prohibited; in standard terms at every tier.
Confidentiality architecture

Confidential by design. Not by configuration.

Every element of Nguma’s architecture was designed around the assumption that board content is the most sensitive material the platform will process. Confidentiality is not a feature you enable; it is the default state.

Australian hosting

Audio, transcripts and records are processed and stored in Australia, with the application database and records held in AWS’s Sydney region and speech-to-text processed in Australia. No customer data is transferred offshore for storage.

Named-user access only

Each matter is accessible only to the users explicitly named in the configuration. No broad organisational access. No automatic sharing. Access is granted per matter, not per account, and every access event is logged.

No model training, contractually

Board audio and transcript content is never used to train AI models. This is a hard contractual prohibition in Nguma’s standard terms, not an opt-out buried in settings. Your board’s deliberations remain yours.

Human review before every record

No minutes or transcript is finalised without human review against the source audio. The AI produces a draft; a named reviewer approves it. The approval is logged. Every record has a human accountable for its accuracy.

Full audit trail

Every action from audio upload to final approved minutes is timestamped and attributed to a named user. Who configured the matter, who accessed the draft, who made changes, and who signed off is recorded and cannot be altered.

AES-256 encryption

All audio and transcript content encrypted at rest and in transit using AES-256. Role-based access controls with granular permissions. Secure deletion on request. No shared storage across matters or organisations.

Ready to brief your first board matter?

Tell us your meeting types and output requirements. We respond within one business day.

Output specification

Structured minutes, not verbatim transcripts.

Board clients want accurate, decision-focused minutes: what was discussed, what was resolved, and who is accountable for what. Not a word-for-word record of every comment. Nguma’s output is configured to what your board and governance team actually need.

Standard output

Board minutes

Decision and resolution capture with director attribution. Action items with owners and due dates. Discussion summary, not verbatim. Minute-ready for board approval.

  • Resolutions and decisions with full attribution
  • Action items: owner, due date, and context
  • Discussion summary preserving key positions
  • Dissenting views and abstentions recorded
  • Audit trail back to source audio
Optional output

Verbatim transcript

For matters where a complete verbatim record is required: M&A diligence, audit committee hearings, or proceedings where every word may be material.

  • Speaker-attributed verbatim throughout
  • Time-stamped to audio cues
  • Privilege and without-prejudice handling
  • Named-user restricted access
  • Human-certified against original audio

If your board has an existing house style or a minute format your company secretary works to, describe it when you brief us and we will produce to that specification. Exports to Word, PDF, or your board portal.

How it works

From session to approved minutes in four steps.

Nguma connects to your existing meeting platform (Teams, Zoom, or Webex) or accepts audio upload after an in-person meeting. No new infrastructure required.

1

Configure the matter

Set the output type (structured minutes or verbatim), name the permitted users, configure access controls, and set the retention policy. For recurring board meetings, configure once and reuse for every subsequent session.

2

Capture the session

Connect Nguma to your Teams, Zoom, or Webex session, or upload the audio after an in-person meeting. All audio is processed in Australia on receipt. Access is restricted to named users from the first moment of capture.

3

Review and approve

The company secretary or designated reviewer receives the AI-drafted minutes. They review against the audio using the built-in editor, edit any inaccuracies, and approve. Every edit is captured in the audit trail with the reviewer’s identity.

4

Circulate and archive

Approved minutes export to Word, PDF, or your board portal in your house format. The source audio, the AI draft, all edits, and the approval sign-off are archived in the audit trail. Available for ASIC, APRA, or external audit review on request.

Security and compliance status

What your company secretary and legal counsel will ask about.

Data encryption (AES-256)
At rest and in transit
PASS
Australian data residency
No offshore processing of any kind
PASS
No model training on customer data
Contractually guaranteed in standard terms
PASS
Named-user access controls
Per-matter access; no broad organisational visibility
PASS
Human review before every record
No minutes finalised without named reviewer approval
PASS
Full audit trail
Every action logged, attributed, and timestamped
PASS
Privacy Act 1988 compliant
APPs 3, 6, 8, and 11 addressed by design
PASS
Essential Eight ML2
ASD baseline cyber security controls
IN PROGRESS
ISO 27001
Information security management system
IN PROGRESS
ISO 42001
AI management system
IN PROGRESS
Common questions

Questions your company secretary and legal counsel will ask.

Are board minutes produced by Nguma admissible as a legal record under the Corporations Act 2001?

Yes, when produced through Nguma’s human-reviewed process. Section 251A of the Corporations Act 2001 requires minutes to accurately record resolutions and proceedings. Nguma produces a draft from the source audio and requires a named human reviewer to check it against the audio and approve it before finalisation. The approved minutes, together with their audit trail, satisfy the requirements for accurate minutes signed off by a responsible person. The source audio is preserved and available for verification.

Where is our board meeting audio stored? Does it leave Australia?

All audio and transcripts are stored and processed in Australia, with the application database and records held in AWS’s Sydney region and speech-to-text processed in Australia. Board meeting content is never stored or processed outside Australia. Nguma does not transfer customer data offshore for storage in the ordinary course of the service. Full architecture and data-residency documentation is available under NDA for security assessment.

Can we restrict access so only board members and the company secretary can see the minutes?

Yes. Access is configured per matter at setup. Only users you name explicitly can access the audio, draft, and approved minutes for that matter. There is no broad organisational visibility, no automatic sharing with other users on the account, and no access for Nguma staff outside of contracted support arrangements. Every access event is logged with the user’s identity and timestamp.

Is our board content used to train AI models?

No. Nguma contractually guarantees that customer audio, transcripts, and metadata are never used to train AI models, fine-tune models, or improve the Nguma service. This is a hard contractual prohibition in Nguma’s standard terms at every tier. It is not an enterprise-only option or a setting that needs to be turned on.

How are M&A discussions and legally privileged content handled?

M&A diligence interviews and privileged sessions are configured as separate restricted matters with named-user access only. Without-prejudice handling is available. The content is accessible only to named users, and every access event is logged. This supports privilege preservation by ensuring the content has not been disclosed to unauthorised parties. Contact us to discuss specific privilege requirements for your matter.

Can Nguma produce minutes in our existing house format?

Yes. If your company secretary works to an existing minute format or template, describe it when you brief us and we will produce to that specification. If you would prefer us to recommend a starting point, we can do that too. Exports to Word, PDF, or your board portal in your preferred format and naming convention.

Get a transcription brief for your board.

Tell us your meeting types, volume, and output requirements. We will provide a custom specification and indicative pricing within one business day.