The guideline for Bookkeeping requirements for Apartment Owners Association is detailed in the Societies Act (1960), and some of the specifics about Common Profit & Losses are outlined in the Apartment Owners Act (1972). ADDA presents a concise extract of the two here, for quick reference.
Accounts
(1) The governing body of every society registered under this Act shall keep at the registered office of the society or at such other place in the State as the governing body thinks fit, proper bookkeeping requirements of accounts with respect to,—
(a) all sums of money received and expended by the society and the matters in respect of which the receipt and expenditure takes place;
(b) all sales and purchases of goods by the society; and
(c) the assets and liabilities of the society.
(2) Every balance sheet of a society shall give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the society as at the end of the specific year and every income and expenditure account shall give a true and fair view of the excess of income over expenditure, bookkeeping requirements or excess of expenditure over income, of the society for the specific year.
(3) In the case of society the accounts which are made up with the previous sanction of the Registrar to any date other than the 31st day of December, the first balance sheet and the first income and expenditure account of such society after such previous sanction is accorded shall, for the purposes of sub-section (2), be for such period as the Registrar may specify in the order according to the previous sanction.
Society Accounting made Easy
Balance sheet and annual list of governing body to be filed with Registrar
On or before the fourteenth day succeeding the day on which the annual general meeting of a society is held, there shall be filed with the Registrar a list of the names, addresses and occupations of the members of the governing body then entrusted with the society management affairs and a copy of the balance sheet and income and expenditure account audited by a person who under section 226 of the Companies Act, 1956 (Central Act 1 of 1956), can act as an auditor of companies registered in the State of Karnataka.
Delay in Filing
“Provided that if for any sufficient reason society has not filed the list of members of the governing body and a copy of balance sheet and income and expenditure account on or before the fourteenth day of the Annual General Body meeting of the Society it may make an application to the Registrar to condone the delay and permit to file the records and the Registrar may if he is satisfied that there are sufficient reasons for the delay in filing such records, condone the delay and permit the society to file such records subject to payment of fine as may be prescribed and where no sufficient reasons are shown, he may after giving an opportunity of being heard to the society reject the application and return such records to the society:
Provided further that, where society has failed to file such records for a consecutive period of five years, the Registrar, may after giving a reasonable opportunity of being heard to the society, by an order cancel the registration of such society and direct dissolution of the society, and thereupon the assets of the society shall be distributed, and the liabilities discharged in the same manner as if the society had been dissolved under section 22.
Explanation: For the purpose of this provison, where the application filed by a society to condone the delay in filing bookkeeping requirements for any year is rejected and the records are returned under the first proviso, such society shall be deemed to have failed to file records for that year.”
Reach out to our society accounting experts at sales@adda.io or 02248905764 to know more about bookkeeping and book-closure in detail.