Practical Guide | What are the requirements for the archiving scope, retention periods, and transfer of accounting archives?

Accounting archives refer to various forms of accounting materials, such as text and charts, that a unit receives or forms during accounting and other processes, records and reflects the unit's economic business matters, and have preservation value, including electronic accounting archives formed, transmitted, and stored through computers and other electronic devices.

Accounting archives are important original vouchers. They record a unit's fiscal expenditures, reflect a unit's operations, and standardized financial management reflects the standardization of the unit and lays the foundation for the unit's sustainable development. Order No. 79 of the Ministry of Finance and the National Archives Administration, the Measures for the Management of Accounting Archives, sets clear requirements for the standardization of accounting archives. In specific practical work, this must be taken as the criterion to properly carry out the filing, preservation, and utilization of accounting archives.

Archiving scope

1. Accounting vouchers，Includes original vouchers and bookkeeping vouchers;

2. Accounting books，Includes general ledger, subsidiary ledger, journal, fixed asset cards, and other auxiliary books;

3. Financial accounting reports，Includes monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, and annual financial accounting reports;

4. Other accounting materials，Includes bank deposit balance reconciliation statements, bank statements, tax filing forms, accounting archive handover lists, accounting archive custody lists, accounting archive destruction lists, accounting archive appraisal opinions, and other accounting materials with retention value.

Electronic Accounting Archives Archiving Requirements

（1）The sources of the electronic accounting materials formed are authentic and valid，Formed and transmitted by computers and other electronic devices;

（2）The accounting system used can accurately, completely, and effectively receive and read electronic accounting materials，Able to output accounting materials such as accounting vouchers, accounting books, and financial accounting statements in archival formats compliant with national standards，Necessary review and approval procedures such as handling and review have been established;

（3）The electronic archive management system used can effectively receive, manage, and utilize electronic accounting archives，Meets the long-term preservation requirements of electronic archives，And establishing a retrieval relationship between electronic accounting archives and related other paper accounting archives;

（4）Take effective measures，Prevent electronic accounting archives from being tampered with;

（5）Establish an electronic accounting archives backup system，Able to effectively prevent the impact of natural disasters, accidents, and human destruction;

（6）The electronic accounting materials formed are not accounting archives with permanent preservation value or other important preservation value.

Archiving requirements

Time requirements for the transfer of accounting archives:

Accounting archives formed in the current year，After the end of the accounting year，Can be temporarily kept for one year by the unit's accounting management institution，Then transfer to the unit's archives management institution for custody. If transfer must be delayed due to work needs，The consent of the unit's archives management institution shall be obtained.

The accounting archives of an entity's accounting management institution may be temporarily kept for no more than three years. During the temporary custody period，The preservation of accounting archives shall comply with the relevant provisions of national archive management，and cashiers must not concurrently manage accounting archives.

Procedural requirements for the transfer of accounting archives:

When an entity's accounting management institution handles the transfer of accounting archives，An accounting archives transfer list shall be prepared，And handling handover procedures in accordance with relevant provisions on national archives management.

When paper accounting archives are transferred, the original volume packaging shall be kept. When electronic accounting archives are transferred, the electronic accounting archives and their metadata shall be transferred together.，and the file format shall comply with relevant national regulations on archives management. Electronic accounting archives in special formats shall be transferred together with their reading platform.

When an entity's archive management institution receives electronic accounting archives，The accuracy, completeness, usability, and security of electronic accounting archives should be detected，Only those that meet the requirements can be received.

Retention period of accounting archives

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