Accounting Articles > Record Keeping / Bookkeeping:

Which records should I keep?

The short answer is everything.

If it looks, acts, or even smells like an accounting record, keep it. There simply isn't anything that I can think of that's a reasonable accounting record that I have never seen asked for in an audit. I could elaborate, but that one ridiculous scrap of paper that you consider useless and irrelevant, is exactly the one that they will ask for. If you don't have it, you will probably pay additional tax, interest, and penalty. Keep everything. Sorry. I know what a hassle it is.

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