Maintenance of ‑ Whether vouchers, invoices and other connected records are to be preserved along with books of account - Companies Law - No. CLAS/24,

Circular: No. CLAS/24, dated 27 ‑ 6 ‑ 1961 issued by Indian Chamber of Commerce, Calcutta. Subject:- Maintenance of ‑ Whether vouchers, invoices and other connected records are to be preserved along with books of account Query: Sub‑section (4A) of section 209, introduced by the Companies (Amendment) Act, 1960, provides that all the books of account shall be maintained in good order for a period of 8 years immediately preceding the current year. In reply to a letter from the Chamber, the Department of Company Law Administration have clarified that the books of account to be maintained are those mentioned in sub‑section (1) of section 209 and that the companies in addition to maintaining such books should also maintain vouchers, invoices, bills, etc., for a like period. It may be pointed out that the preservation of such a large number of documents will accentuate the already existing problem of storage space. In any case vouchers, invoices, bills, etc., are not a part of account books and they stand duly recorded in the relevant account books. Answer: The vouchers, invoices and other connected records should be preserved along with the books of account as the relevant entries in the books of account cannot be substantiated without the supporting documents, vouchers, etc.