The Importance of Record Keeping for your Singapore Business
Having proper record book keeping for your Singapore company enables you to:
- enhance your business decisions making process;
- have the peace of mind when complying with the authorities of Singapore. For example, when you need to file your yearly income tax return to IRAS or to file your annual returns to ACRA, you can have the peace of mind as your records are kept in order and up to date;
- know the financial health and status of your business performance (for example, the profit or loss position for a certain period, and even identify possibilities of internal fraud or theft).
Minimum period for Businesses to keep records in Singapore
Prior to the accounting period ending 1st January 2007, the minimum period to keep records is 7 years. However, from 1st January 2007 onward, all business in Singapore needs to keep their records for at least 5 years.
Consequence for not complying with record keeping requirements:
Did you know that the non-compliance for your firm’s record keeping may constitute an offence? There is a maximum fine of $5,000 and / or a jail term imposed for a period up to 6 months.
Tips for record keeping of your Singapore books:
As business owners, you should ensure that your records are kept neatly once you had commenced business operations in Singapore. Otherwise, the consequences could be dire, and you would definitely have to subsequently spend more effort and time keeping your records when the need one day arises.
When that happens and you finally realised it, this will not only cost you time, but also money if you were to hire a professional accounting firm to clean up your books. This is also commonly known as the clearing of backlog accounting in technical terms.
Here are some tips that we would like to share with you in relation to record bookkeeping for your company:
- Record your business transactions on a day-to-day basis to keep records up-to-date. If not having a system to do so is your key issue and excuse not to keep proper records, then even doing so in a simple excel spreadsheet would suffice. The key to this is not to leave your record keeping till the end of the month or a financial year itself;
- Start setting up a record keeping system for your company. The recording should be easily understood by anybody, even a lay person who is not in your field of business operations. A good record keeping system should alert you to start following up and take action when payments are due or even when debts are owed to your business;
- Always check that all your business’ transactions are recorded and entered accurately and precisely;
- Remember to set up a bank account for your company to enable clearer, more efficient and effective management of your company’s funds.
Reminder about record book-keeping for Singapore company
J Accounting Services would like to remind the public that keeping your records up to date is crucial. Maintaining your books regularly is one of the key reasons for success in a business. Start cleaning up your books and record keeping if you haven’t done so. You will be glad to know that J Accounting do offer you a wide range of services, including the clearing of your backlog accounting works.
