Company Compliance
11. Company Record Keeping
Authors: Staff Legal Eagle
Firm / Chambers:
Last updated: 06 Jul 2015
- Under the requirements of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) a company must keep records that:
- correctly record and explain its transactions and financial position and performance; and
- enable true and fair financial statements to be prepared and audited.
- These aspects of company performance will generally be established through the preparation and audit of financial records.
- Financial records include invoices, receipts, cheques, working papers and other documents needed to explain the methods by which your financial reports are prepared. They include:
- financial statements such as profit and loss accounts, balance sheets, depreciation schedules and taxation returns. These are not required for small proprietary companies but it is recommended that you keep them;
- the general ledger and general journal;
- the company asset register;
- computer back-ups which should be updated monthly;
- cash records such as a cash receipts journal, bank deposit books, cash payments journal, cheque butts and petty cash books;
- bank account statements, bank reconciliations and bank loan documents;
- sales and debtor records such as a sales journal, debtors ledger, list of debtors, invoices and statements issued and delivery dockets;
- work-in-progress records;
- job and customer files;
- stock listings;
- creditors records such as invoices and statements received and paid, creditors ledger and unpaid invoices;
- all correspondence, annual returns and Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) forms;
- wages and superannuation records;
- registers of members where applicable, options, debenture holders, prescribed interests, charges and unclaimed property;
- minutes of meetings of directors or members; and
- deeds where applicable such as for trusts, debentures, contracts and agreements such as leases and inter-company transactions including guarantees.
- Generally speaking financial records must be kept for 7 years. However other record keeping laws may also apply. For example if it is possible that your company will be involved in a contentious or potentially litigious matter (before a court or tribunal) then the time is extended longer than the usual 7 years. If you are unsure of your obligations you should consult a compliance lawyer or compliance adviser for record keeping advice.
- Financial records can be kept electronically but financial records must be convertible into hard copy. Even when records are kept on a third party’s computer for example on a cloud server or your accountant's computer you must provide a hard copy to any person entitled to inspect the records.
- A compliance lawyer or advisor can help you if you have questions about the types of financial records your company needs to keep, what records your company needs to prepare and lodge with ASIC, how long your company needs to keep the records and what records need to be kept.
- Our free Find a Lawyer directory provides contact details for lawyers who may suit your needs.
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