Most founders register the company first and think about the books much later. Then the first year-end arrives, and months of invoices, bank transfers and receipts have to be rebuilt from memory.
Bookkeeping in Singapore is the day-to-day record of every sale, cost and payment that moves through your company. The law requires it from the first day, not from the first tax filing. ACRA, the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority, sets the duty for company records. IRAS, the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore, sets the rules for tax records.
This guide explains what a new company should record and which documents to keep, and for how long. It then shows how to build a routine that keeps you ready for tax and audit questions, and when to hand the work to a provider.
Key Takeaways
The table summarises the main rules as of November 2026, based on ACRA and IRAS pages.
Bookkeeping is the ongoing record of your company's transactions, such as sales, purchases and bank movements. Singapore law requires every company to keep records that explain its transactions and support accurate financial statements.
ACRA's page on company directors' duties lists keeping proper accounting records as the first duty. The records must be good enough to prepare financial statements that give a true and fair view. That duty sits in section 199 of the Companies Act and applies to all directors, including non-executive and nominee directors.
Three terms are often mixed up, so it helps to separate them.
A financial year end, or FYE, is the last day of your company's accounting period. ACRA lets you choose any date, and your choice sets your AGM and annual return deadlines.
Consider a founder in the first quarter after incorporation. She pays for software with a personal card, invoices one client and receives payment into the company account. None of that is "tax season" activity, yet every item is already a transaction the company must be able to explain.
ACRA's financial reporting duties for directors page says records can be kept in-house or outsourced. It does not say the duty moves with the work. A director who outsources the books still signs off on them, so read the monthly reports instead of waiting for the year-end set.
A new company should record every transaction that changes what it earns, owes, owns or is owed. That means sales, supplier bills, expenses, bank and card activity, money moving to or from directors and shareholders, and any equipment it buys.
IRAS says a company must be able to explain all transactions relating to its income, business expenses and purchases. Its record keeping requirements page for companies points to source documents, accounting records and schedules, and bank statements. The table below turns that into a working list.
The point is that every line in the books should trace back to a document someone else can read.
Payroll has its own record rules, which this guide does not repeat. Here you only need the monthly totals to reach your ledger.
Money between a director and the company is the entry we see most often left vague. A bank transfer with no note could be a loan, a repayment, a salary or a share payment. Write the purpose on the transfer or in the books the same day, because it is hard to recall twelve months later.
Keep your accounting records and the documents behind them for at least five years. ACRA counts the five years from the end of the financial year when the transactions were completed, and IRAS counts them from the relevant Year of Assessment.
The two agencies use different starting points, so the periods end on different dates. This table shows each rule in the agency's own terms.
A Year of Assessment, or YA, is the year in which IRAS assesses the income of the previous year. IRAS gives an example in its filing obligations guide. Records for 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024, which is YA 2025, should be kept up to 31 December 2029.
Take a company with a 30 June 2024 year end. Counted the ACRA way, the five years from the end of that financial year run to 30 June 2029. Counted the IRAS way, they run to 31 December 2029. The safe rule is to keep records until the later date.
Three more points help new companies:
Set up five things in your first month: your year end, a separate business bank account, a list of accounts, a place for records, and a habit for documents. None needs special skills, and each makes every later step easier.
Step 1: Confirm your financial year end. ACRA's guide to choosing a financial year end says you can choose any date. Your choice sets your AGM and annual return deadlines, so pick a date that gives your team time to close the books.
Step 2: Open a separate business bank account. Business money should never travel through a personal account. A clean bank statement is the easiest source document you will ever have, and it makes the monthly check quick.
Step 3: Agree your list of accounts. A chart of accounts is the list of categories used to sort transactions, such as sales, rent, software and professional fees. Keep it short at first. You can split a category later, but merging messy ones is harder.
Step 4: Choose where the records live. Accounting software, a spreadsheet or a provider's system all work if they meet the IRAS expectations on integrity and retrieval. IRAS also keeps an Accounting Software Register Plus, a list of software that supports tax compliance.
Step 5: Build a document habit. Create one shared folder per financial year, with subfolders for sales, purchases, bank statements and director transactions. Save each document on the day you receive it, with a name that includes the date and the supplier.
A common first-month case is the founder who pays company costs with a personal card and plans to "sort it out later". Record each one as an amount the company owes the director, and keep the receipt. The company can then repay it with a clear paper trail.
A simple routine has three rhythms: capture documents weekly, match the bank to the books monthly, and close the year with time to spare. The year-end work is only as quick as the months before it.
Weekly: capture. Record new sales and bills, save each document and chase unpaid invoices. A short weekly session stops a pile building up.
Monthly: reconcile and review. Reconciling means matching the bank statement to your records, line by line, until the balances agree. Then read the profit and loss summary and ask whether anything looks odd. A missing payment or a double-counted bill shows up quickly when the month is fresh.
Every GST period: check tax invoices. If you are GST-registered, confirm that each purchase has a valid tax invoice before you claim anything.
At year-end: close and hand over. Finish the final reconciliation, list unpaid sales and bills, and pass the set to whoever prepares the financial statements.
The routine matters because the filing dates are fixed by your year end. This table uses a 31 December 2026 year end as an example, based on ACRA and IRAS pages.
Late books push every row of this table back, and you cannot move the dates. ACRA's pages on AGM due dates and annual return deadlines cover the ACRA dates. IRAS's basic guide to corporate income tax covers the tax dates.
IRAS's filing obligations guide says the 30 November due date is extended automatically by 15 days, to 15 December, up to YA 2027. Check IRAS's current notice for the year you are filing instead of relying on this note.
Good bookkeeping is what makes an audit exemption, an ECI waiver and a GST registration decision easy to test. Each one depends on figures that come straight from your books.
Audit exemption. A private company is exempt from audit if it meets at least two of three criteria for each of the two financial years before the current one. ACRA's audit exemption page sets them at total annual revenue of S$10 million or less, total assets of S$10 million or less, and 50 full-time employees or fewer. ACRA has announced a review of the audit exemption framework, so check the page for changes. ATHR's audit exemption guide covers the group rules and the shareholder override.
What exemption does not remove. An exempt company still prepares financial statements, and ACRA says directors present unaudited statements in that case. Those statements can only be as accurate as the records underneath.
ECI waiver. IRAS says a company does not need to file ECI when both criteria are met: annual revenue of S$5 million or below, and nil ECI for the Year of Assessment. Revenue comes from your books, so a late close makes the test unreliable.
GST registration. IRAS's page on whether you need to register for GST says registration is compulsory in two cases. One is taxable turnover of more than S$1 million at the end of the calendar year. The other is expected turnover of more than S$1 million in the next 12 months. Monthly sales totals let you see that line coming.
What happens without proper records. IRAS's non-GST record keeping guide says failing to keep source documents can lead to expense claims being disallowed, and IRAS may estimate revenue or impose penalties. IRAS's record keeping requirements page says penalties of up to S$5,000 apply, and in default of payment, imprisonment of up to six months.
A tax query rarely arrives when you are free. It tends to come after a filing, with a request to show the invoice behind one expense. A company that files its documents by month can answer in minutes. One that does not may spend a week searching inboxes.
Do it yourself while volume is low and you have time. Hire or outsource once the books fall behind, GST or foreign currency enters the picture, or a bank or investor asks for reliable monthly numbers.
There are three routes. Each suits a different stage, and none removes the director's responsibility. The table compares them without cost figures, since costs vary by provider and scope.
Use these five triggers to decide whether it is time to move up a route:
The cheapest time to hand over the books is the first quarter, not the month before a deadline. A provider who sets up the list of accounts and document folders at the start spares you a clean-up project. If you plan to outsource later, keep your folders tidy now.
For a wider view of what to hand over and what to keep in-house, ATHR's post on how outsourcing accounting tasks can help your business is useful further reading.
The most common mistakes are mixing personal and business spending, losing source documents, reconciling late, leaving director transactions unexplained and discarding records too early. All five are avoidable with the routine above.
For wider reading, ACRA's pages on directors' duties and IRAS's record keeping requirements are the best starting points.
Yes. ACRA's duty to keep proper accounting records applies to all companies. Even before your first sale, you will have transactions such as incorporation fees and costs paid by a director. Record them and keep the documents.
Yes. IRAS says you may keep records using a computer or accounting software, including office applications, and you do not need IRAS approval. You must still keep the records complete, accurate and retrievable, with internal controls that protect their integrity.
IRAS says physical copies of source documents need not be kept if they are kept electronically. The scan must be clear and complete, and you need controls to keep it intact. Keep the original if a scan is hard to read.
IRAS says companies keep records for five years after they are struck off, dissolved or wound up. The duty falls on the person who was an officer immediately before dissolution, or on the liquidator in a liquidation.
Audit exemption removes the auditor, not the need for records and financial statements. ACRA says records can be maintained in-house or outsourced. Many small companies still use an accountant to prepare statements to the required standard.
The record duties are the same for every company. The difference is at setup: ACRA requires foreigners to register a company through a corporate service provider. An experienced provider, plus a corporate secretary familiar with Singapore compliance, can then handle the follow-through.
Ask the supplier for a copy straight away and file it with the original date. IRAS warns that missing source documents can lead to disallowed expense claims.
Most new companies start with a simple question: who keeps the books, and how do we know they are right? A useful first step is to list what you sell, how many transactions you expect each month, and whether you will register for GST.
ATHR provides bookkeeping services that record your transactions each month, so the figures are ready for your financial statements and tax filings. If you are a foreigner starting a Singapore company, ACRA requires registration through a corporate service provider. We work with you from incorporation, and a corporate secretary who knows Singapore compliance helps with the follow-through.
👉 Ready to set up bookkeeping for your Singapore company? Book a free consultation with ATHR today →
The ATHR Content Team is a group of professional writers from Singapore and the Philippines, committed to delivering informative, practical, and engaging content for business owners across Southeast Asia.
