Companies Act · 2021 Revised Edition · Part · Management and Administration Registered Office and Name
121. Keeping of books of account
Official textFrom Attorney General's Chambers, unchanged
Every company shall cause to be kept proper books of account with respect to -
all sums of money received and expended by the company and the matters in respect of which the receipt and expenditure takes place;
all sales and purchases of goods by the company;
the assets and liabilities of the company,
[S 2 7/20 191
as will sufficiently explain the transactions and financial position of the company and for this purpose every company shall cause to be kept the following books -
a cash book or books which shall contain a full and complete record of all sums of money paid to the company or to any agent of the company and of all sums of money expended by the company or by any agent of the company and of the matters in respect of which such receipt and expenditure take place:
Provided that, there shall also be kept a book which shall contain a daily summary of all the receipts and payments which are recorded in the cash book or books. There shall be set out in such summary under appropriate heads the daily totals of receipts and payments in such a manner as to show clearly their respective sources and the accounts in respect of which they are made, and full particulars shall be given in respect of all
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receipts and payments on account of capital and of all payments made to directors of the company.
The entries in such book shall in every case be made at a date not later than one month from the date under which the transactions of which they are a record are entered in the cash book or books;
a journal or other book or books in which shall be recorded all financial transactions of the company other than cash transactions and all transactions which in any way affect the accretions and diminutions on capital and revenue accounts of the company with full explanations of such transactions; and
a ledger or other book or books in which shall be entered each to its proper account the transactions recorded in the cash book and journal so as to show the financial relations of the company with every party with whom it has dealings and the financial position of the company itself.
The company shall retain the records referred to in subsection (1) for a period of not less than 7 years from the end of the financial year in which the transaction or operations to which those records relate, are completed.
financial year
"financial year", in relation to any corporation, means the period in respect of which any profit and loss account of the corporation laid before it in general meeting is made up, whether that period is a year or not;
Every public company and every subsidiary company of a public company shall devise and maintain a system of internal accounting controls sufficient to provide a reasonable assurance that -
assets are safeguarded against loss from unauthorised use or disposition; and
transactions are properly authorised and that they are recorded as necessary to permit the preparation of true and fair financial statements and to maintain accountability of assets.
p 27/2019]
The books of account shall be kept at the registered office of the company or at such other place as the directors think fit, and shall at all times be open to inspection by the directors.
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Companies
If any person being a director of a company fails to take all reasonable steps to secure compliance by the company with the requirements of this section, or has by his own wilful act been the cause of any default by the company thereunder, he is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to, in respect of each offence, a fine of $5,000 or imprisonment for 2 years:
director
"director" includes any person occupying the position of director of a corporation by whatever name called and includes a person in accordance with whose directions or instructions the directors of a Companies corporation are accustomed to act and an alternate or substitute director;
Provided that a person shall not be sentenced to imprisonment for an offence under this section unless, in the opinion of the Court dealing with the case, the offence was committed wilfully.
Terms defined in this Act
accounts
Defined · s 2"accounts" means profit and loss accounts, or income and expenditure accounts, and balance sheets referred to in section 122 and includes notes (other than auditors' reports or directors' reports) attached or intended to be read with any of those profit and loss accounts, income and expenditure accounts or balance sheets;
director
Defined · s 2"director" includes any person occupying the position of director of a corporation by whatever name called and includes a person in accordance with whose directions or instructions the directors of a Companies corporation are accustomed to act and an alternate or substitute director;
financial year
Defined · s 2"financial year", in relation to any corporation, means the period in respect of which any profit and loss account of the corporation laid before it in general meeting is made up, whether that period is a year or not;
subsidiary company
Defined · s 120A"subsidiary company" means a company that is a subsidiary as defined in the Accounting Standards. ACCOUNTS AND AUDIT
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