Measures for the Administration of Accounting Archives (2015 Revision)

Measures for the Administration of Accounting Archives (2015 Revision) Order of the Ministry of Finance and the State Archives Administration (No. 79) The Measures for the Administration of Accounting Archives , as revised and adopted at the executive meeting of the Ministry of Finance and the executive meeting of the State Archives Administration, are hereby issued and shall come into force on January 1, 2016. Minister of Finance: Lou Jiwei Director of the State Archives Administration: Li Minghua December 11, 2015 Measures for the Administration of Accounting Archives Article 1 For purposes of strengthening the administration of accounting archives, and effectively protecting and using accounting archives, these Measures are developed in accordance with the Accounting Law of the People's Republic of China , the Archives Law of the People's Republic of China , and other relevant laws and administrative regulations. Article 2 These Measures shall apply to the management of accounting archives by state authorities, social organizations, enterprises, public institutions and other organizations (hereinafter collectively referred to as “entities”). Article 3 For the purpose of these Measures, “accounting archives” means accounting materials in various forms such as texts and charts that are received or formed in the course of accounting of an entity to record and reflect business transactions of the entity, and are worthy of preservation, including electronic accounting archives that are formed, transmitted and stored by computers or other electronic equipment. Article 4 The Ministry of Finance and the State Archives Administration shall take charge of the work on accounting archives nationwide, jointly develop national uniform work rules for accounting archives, and oversee and direct the work on accounting archives nationwide. Public finance departments and archives administrative departments of local people's governments at or above the county level shall administer the work on accounting archives within their respective administrative regions, and oversee and direct the work on accounting archives within their respective administrative regions. Article 5 Entities shall strengthen the management of accounting archives, establish and improve the management rules on the collection, review, preservation, use, identification and destruction of accounting archives, and adopt reliable safety protection technologies and measures, so as to ensure that accounting archives are true, complete, usable and safe. An entity's archives department or the department to which archivists are affiliated (hereinafter collectively referred to as the “entity's archives management department”) shall be responsible for managing the entity's accounting archives. The entity may also authorize an agency qualified for archives management to manage accounting archives on behalf of it. Article 6 The following accounting materials shall be archived: (1) Accounting vouchers, including original vouchers and bookkeeping vouchers. (2) Accounting books, including general ledgers, detailed accounts, journal accounts, fixed asset cards and other auxiliary accounting books. (3) Financial accounting reports, including monthly, quarterly, semi-annual and annual financial accounting reports. (4) Other accounting materials, including bank balance reconciliation statements, bank statements, tax returns, accounting archives transfer checklists, accounting archives preservation checklists, accounting archives destruction checklists, accounting archives identification opinion and other accounting materials worthy of preservation. Article 7 Entities may manage accounting archives using computers, network communication and other information technology means. Article 8 Where the following conditions are met at the same time, electronic accounting materials that are formed in entities and should be archived are allowed to be preserved in the electronic form only, and electronic accounting archives shall be formed. (1) The formed electronic accounting materials have true and valid sources, and are formed and transmitted by computers and other electronic equipment. (2) The used accounting system is able to receive and read electronic accounting materials in an accurate, complete and effective manner, produce accounting vouchers, accounting books, financial accounting statements and other accounting materials of the national standard archiving format, and has set necessary examination and signature procedures for handling, examination and approval, among others. (3) The used electronic archives management system is able to effectively receive, manage and use electronic accounting archives, complies with the requirements for long-term preservation of electronic archives, and the retrieval relationship between electronic accounting archives and related other paper accounting archives has been established. (4) Effective measures have been taken to prevent the falsification of electronic accounting archives. (5) Electronic accounting archives backup rules have been established, and are able to effectively prevent the effects of natural disasters, accidents and man-made sabotage. (6) Formed electronic accounting materials do not fall under accounting archives worthy of permanent preservation or of other important preservation value. Article 9 Electronic accounting materials meeting the conditions prescribed in Article 8 of these Measures, which are received by entities from outside and to which electronic signatures prescribed in the Electro......