Section 245. Accounts to be kept

(1) A company, the directors and managers of a company shall—

(a) cause to be kept the accounting and other records to sufficiently explain the transactions and financial position of the company and enable true and fair profit and loss accounts and balance sheets and any documents required to be attached thereto to be prepared; and

(b) cause the accounting and other records to be kept in a manner as to enable the accounting and other records to be conveniently and properly audited.

(2) A company, the directors and managers of a company shall cause appropriate entries to be made in the accounting and other records within sixty days of the completion of the transactions to which the entries relate.

(3) The company shall retain the records referred to in subsection (1) for seven years after the completion of the transactions or operations to which the entries relate.

(4) The records referred to in subsection (1) shall be kept at the registered office of the company or at such other place as the directors think fit, and shall at all times be open for inspection by the directors.

(5) Notwithstanding subsection (4), the accounting and other records of operations outside Malaysia may be kept by the company at a place outside Malaysia provided that such accounting and other records shall be sent to and kept at a place in Malaysia and be made available for inspection by the directors at all times.

(6) The accounting and other records referred to in subsection (5) shall include such statements and returns with respect to the business dealt with in the records so kept as to enable the preparation of true and fair financial statements and any documents required to be attached to the financial statements.

(7) If any accounting and other records are kept at a place outside Malaysia under subsection (4) or (5), the Registrar may require the company to produce those records at a place in Malaysia or determine the type and manner of the records to be kept in Malaysia.

(8) The Court may, in any particular case, order that the accounting and other records of a company be open to inspection by an approved company auditor acting for a director, subject to a written undertaking given to the Court that information acquired by the auditor during his inspection shall not be disclosed by him except to that director.

(9) The company and every officer who contravene this section commit an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding five hundred thousand ringgit or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or to both.