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STORAGE OF ACCOUNTING DOCUMENTS AND STORAGE TERM
Accounting document storage is the process of keeping and preserving documents related to the accounting activities of an organization or enterprise. The storage of accounting documents ensures that any important financial and accounting information of the business is protected, available for lookup, and complies with legal requirements. So what accounting documents are there to store and how long is the current storage period? Let’ s find out with Siglaw Law Firm through the article below!
What accounting documents to store
– Accounting documents include: Original documents and bookkeeping documents;
– Accounting books include: detailed accounting books, detailed accounting cards, general accounting books;
– Financial statements include: monthly financial statements, quarterly financial statements, annual financial statements;
– Other documents related to accounting: documents related to economic activities (such as economic contracts, loan contracts, loan contracts, joint venture contracts…); documents related to capital, funds, income (such as decisions on replenishment of capital from income, distribution of funds from income, etc.); documents related to collection, budget expenditures, use of capital and funds (such as finalization of use of funds, finalization of State budget funds, finalization of investment capital…); documents related to tax obligations to the State (such as decisions on tax exemption, reduction, tax refund, tax arrears, annual tax finalization…) documents related to inventory and valuation of assets (such as inventory forms, valuation minutes…); documents related to inspection, audit, inspection (such as inspection conclusions, inspections, audit reports…); documents on computerized accounting programs, documents related to the destruction of accounting documents.
What is the current term of storage of accounting documents?
Depending on the accounting document, the minimum storage period also varies. In accordance with the Law on Accounting and related guiding documents, the time limit for storing accounting documents is determined as follows:
– Accounting documents must be kept for at least 5 years
– Accounting documents must be kept for at least 10 years
– Accounting documents must be permanently archived
(1) Accounting documents that must be kept for a minimum of 5 years include the following types of documents:
– Accounting documents are not directly used to record accounting books and prepare financial statements such as receipts, payment slips, warehouse receipts, warehouse release slips not stored in the accounting documents of the accounting department.
– Accounting documents used for management and administration of accounting units that do not directly record accounting books and prepare financial statements.
(2) Accounting documents that must be stored for a minimum of 10 years include the following types of documents:
– Accounting documents directly used to record accounting books and prepare financial statements, detailed statements, general tables, detailed accounting books, general accounting books, monthly, quarterly and annual financial statements of the accounting unit, finalization reports, accounting self-examination reports, minutes of destruction of archival accounting documents and other documents directly used for bookkeeping and preparation of financial statements.
– Accounting documents related to the liquidation or sale of fixed assets; report on the results of inventory and assessment of assets.
– Accounting documents of the investor, including accounting documents of annual accounting periods and accounting documents on finalization reports of completed projects of groups B and C.
– Accounting documents related to the establishment, division, separation, consolidation, merger, change of ownership form, transformation of type of enterprise or unit conversion, dissolution, bankruptcy, termination of operation, termination of project.
– Relevant documents at the institutional unit such as audit records of the State Audit, records of inspection, inspection and supervision of competent state agencies or records of independent auditing organizations.
Note: For cases where accounting documents are required by other laws to be stored for more than 10 years, archiving shall be carried out according to that regulation.
(3) Accounting documents must be permanently archived
– For accounting units in the field of state accounting, accounting documents must be permanently archived, including the annual state budget finalization report approved by the National Assembly, the local budget finalization report approved by the People’s Councils at all levels; Dossiers and finalization reports of completed projects of group A or projects of national importance; Other accounting documents are historical, important in terms of economy, security and defense.
– The determination of other accounting documents that must be permanently stored shall be decided by the legal representative of the accounting unit, by branches or localities on the basis of determining the historical nature and important significance of economy, security and defense.
– For business activities, accounting documents must be permanently archived, including historical accounting documents of economic, security and defense importance. The determination of accounting documents to be permanently stored shall be decided by the head or legal representative of the accounting unit based on the historical nature and long-term significance of documents and information to decide for each specific case and assigned to the accounting department or other department to store in the form of originals or images another form.
The term of permanent storage must be a storage period of more than 10 years until the accounting document is destroyed naturally.
What places can now serve as storage of accounting documents?
Accounting documents of a unit are stored at its own warehouse. The accounting department of the unit is responsible for ensuring adequate equipment and storage conditions, and complying with regulations on safety during storage in accordance with the law.
In case the unit does not organize a division or archive at the unit, it may choose to hire professional organizations or archival agencies to perform the storage of accounting documents. This process is usually carried out based on a storage contract, which ensures full compliance with the provisions of the law on the safe and efficient storage of accounting documents.
For accounting documents of foreign-invested enterprises, branches or representative offices of foreign enterprises operating in Vietnam must be stored at accounting units in Vietnam or archiving organizations in Vietnam can be hired to carry out the process of archiving accounting documents. At the end of operation in Vietnam, the legal representative of the institutional unit will decide where to store accounting documents, unless otherwise provided for by law.
For accounting documents of units that have been dissolved, declared bankrupt, terminated operations, or completed projects, including accounting documents from ongoing accounting periods of the year that are still in storage, alongside accounting documents related to the dissolution process, bankruptcy, or termination of operations.
Accounting documents of the entity after changing the form of ownership, converting the type of enterprise, or converting the type of unit include accounting documents of the accounting periods of the year that are still in the storage period, along with accounting documents related to the process of changing ownership form, convert the type of business, or convert the type of unit. All these documents are stored at the new accounting unit, or at the place decided by the competent authority on the change of ownership, the transformation of the type of enterprise, or the conversion of units.
For accounting documents pertaining to accounting periods of the year still within the storage period of the units undergoing division or separation, the following procedures apply: If an accounting document can be divided and assigned to the new accounting unit, it will be stored there. If the document cannot be divided, it will remain at the original accounting unit or at the location determined by the competent authority overseeing the division or separation of the unit. Accounting documents related to the division of accounting units will be stored at the new accounting units.
Accounting documents from annual accounting periods still within the storage period, along with documents related to the consolidation and merger process of accounting units, will be stored at either the merging unit or the consolidated accounting unit.
Above is some basic information about Storage of accounting documents and storage duration. If you have any questions about the Financial Statement Audit service, you can contact Siglaw Law Firm directly for assistance!
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