Creating and maintaining good business records is important for a variety of reasons, including:

• helping you to develop a business plan and analysing profitability;
• making pitches to investors (who will almost certainly want to see certain records); and
• staying out of trouble with tax authorities.

Different businesses operating in various industries require different types of records to be kept, so it is worth checking with an advisor whether there is anything specific that you might have to keep a record of. Nonetheless, there are some essential records that most, if not all, business should keep. These include:

• Accounting and tax records – use a spreadsheet (for example, using software such as Open Office) to take into account your business's various costs and revenue streams, and to draw up a balance sheet.
• Stock records – this includes a stock ledger (where various stock-based transactions are recorded) and register of members (which records the shareholders of the company). This becomes more important as you begin to fundraise and ownership of the company moves around.
• Contracts – keep track of what agreements your company has entered into. This includes, for example, with suppliers or distributors as well as employment contracts with your own employees.
• Invoices – have a filing system for your invoices – ideally one that distinguishes clearly between paid and unpaid invoices and keeps track of deadlines as they fall due.
• Constitutional documents – ensure you have correct and up-to-date constitutional documents (for example, articles of association, shareholders’ agreements, subscription agreements, etc.), particularly when you start making changes and updates to them. Remember, your company’s constitutional documents determine what your company can and can’t do (for example, issuing shares and taking out loans), and lay out your duties to the company as a Director.
• Licences / permits – keep records of these as required to operate the business under the relevant regulatory provisions.

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