Which documents should a Hong Kong business keep for its books?

The statutes name the headline items, and practice fills in the rest.

Named by the IRD for business records: books of account, vouchers, bank statements, invoices and receipts, records of assets and liabilities, and for goods traders the buying and selling records plus year-end stock and stocktake records.

Sensible additions for a typical SME:

• sales invoices, credit notes and customer contracts;
• supplier bills and purchase orders;
• bank and credit-card statements for every account, including foreign-currency accounts;
• payroll sheets, payslips, MPF contribution records and employer return copies;
• fixed-asset purchase invoices and disposal records;
• loan, lease and shareholder or director loan agreements;
• petty cash vouchers and expense claims with receipts;
• board minutes approving significant transactions;
• working papers for year-end adjustments.

Keep them for the retention period (7 years under both company law and tax law, 7 years after the end of the financial year of the last entry for company law, and 7 years after the transaction for tax). Digital copies are acceptable if they meet the conditions in the IRD leaflet on electronic records.