How to prepare a document checklist to validate with your professional advisor

01

The direct answer

A useful document checklist lists the books and records the business must keep, verifies they are numbered and retainable according to the applicable rules, and checks drafting and retention deadlines, so the professional can validate completeness before a filing or a review.

02

What the Civil Code requires

An entrepreneur carrying out a commercial activity must keep the journal book and the inventory book, plus any other records required by the nature and size of the business, and must orderly retain for each transaction the originals of letters, telegrams and invoices received, and copies of those sent.

03

How to build the checklist

Steps

1. List the mandatory books: journal book, inventory book and any other records required by the nature or size of the business.
2. Verify the progressive numbering of accounting books before they are put into use.
3. Check that digital documents are consultable at all times and, where required, time-stamped with a digital signature at least once a year.
4. Confirm the annual drafting of the inventory, with the business's assets and liabilities, and its signing within three months of the deadline for filing the tax return.
5. Verify the ten-year retention period from the date of the last entry for records, invoices, letters and telegrams.

04

A hypothetical case

A business preparing its annual meeting with its accountant can gather in a single folder: the numbered journal book, the inventory book with the year's assets and liabilities, originals of received invoices organized by transaction, copies of sent invoices, and, if records are kept digitally, evidence of the annual time-stamping. The professional then checks that nothing is missing before the inventory is signed.

05

Items to include in the checklist

• Journal book with operations recorded day by day.
• Inventory book drafted at the start of the business and every year thereafter.
• Other records required by the nature and size of the business.
• Originals of letters, telegrams and invoices received, kept in order for each transaction.
• Copies of letters, telegrams and invoices sent.
• Progressive numbering of accounting books before they are put into use.
• Evidence of annual time-stamping and digital signature, for digital record-keeping.
• Retention for ten years from the date of the last entry.
• For limited liability companies: the book of shareholders', directors' and auditors' decisions.
• Meeting minutes with date, identity of participants, capital represented and voting results.

06

How management software can support the checklist

A business can configure, or ask its software partner to configure, an archive that keeps mandatory books separate from other records, with traceable numbering and access for consultation at any time, so the professional can quickly validate document completeness.

This is a suggested operational choice, not an obligation arising from the software: the business can assign responsible roles for keeping each book and set an annual review point, in line with the periodic drafting required for the inventory.

07

Frequently asked questions

Should the checklist also cover limited liability companies? Yes: in addition to the books required for the entrepreneur, the company must keep the book of shareholders', directors' and auditors' decisions.

How long must the listed documents be retained? Records, invoices, letters and telegrams must be retained for ten years from the date of the last entry.

Does digital record-keeping replace traditional numbering? Digital record-keeping requires time-stamping and a digital signature at least once a year, as an alternative to the stamping required for paper books.

08

Next step

Prepare the checklist with the points above and bring it to the first meeting with your professional: joint review before filing reduces the risk of incomplete documentation.