RETENTION OF ACCOUNTING RECORDS: A GLOBAL SURVEY OF LAWS AND REGULATIONS By William Saffady, Ph.D, FAI Project Underwritten by: ARMA International Educational Foundation June 3, 2019 Copyright 2019 ARMA International Educational Foundation www.armaedfoundation.org TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION Geographic Scope .......................................................................................................1 Organization and Content of Country Entries ............................................................3 Compliance-Oriented Retention .................................................................................7 Legal Sources ..............................................................................................................8 COUNTRIES AND DEPENDENT TERRITORIES Afghanistan ...............................................................................................................12 Albania ......................................................................................................................13 Algeria.......................................................................................................................14 Andorra .....................................................................................................................15 Angola .......................................................................................................................16 Antigua and Barbuda ................................................................................................17 Argentina...................................................................................................................18 Armenia.....................................................................................................................19 Australia ....................................................................................................................20 Austria .......................................................................................................................21 Azerbaijan .................................................................................................................22 Bahamas ....................................................................................................................23 Bahrain ......................................................................................................................24 Bangladesh ................................................................................................................25 Barbados ...................................................................................................................26 Belarus ......................................................................................................................27 Belgium .....................................................................................................................28 Belize ........................................................................................................................29 Benin .........................................................................................................................30 Bermuda ....................................................................................................................31 Bhutan .......................................................................................................................32 Bolivia .......................................................................................................................33 Bosnia and Herzegovina ...........................................................................................34 Botswana ...................................................................................................................35 Brazil .........................................................................................................................36 Brunei ........................................................................................................................37 Bulgaria .....................................................................................................................38 Burkina Faso .............................................................................................................39 Burundi .....................................................................................................................40 Cambodia ..................................................................................................................41 Cameroon ..................................................................................................................42 Canada.......................................................................................................................43 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Cape Verde................................................................................................................44 Cayman Islands .........................................................................................................45 Chad ..........................................................................................................................46 Chile ..........................................................................................................................47 China .........................................................................................................................48 Colombia ...................................................................................................................49 Comoros ....................................................................................................................50 Congo (DRC) ............................................................................................................51 Congo .......................................................................................................................52 Costa Rica .................................................................................................................53 Croatia .......................................................................................................................54 Cuba ..........................................................................................................................55 Cyprus .......................................................................................................................56 Czech Republic .........................................................................................................57 Denmark ....................................................................................................................58 Djibouti .....................................................................................................................59 Dominica ...................................................................................................................60 Dominican Republic .................................................................................................61 Ecuador .....................................................................................................................62 Egypt .........................................................................................................................63 El Salvador ................................................................................................................64 Equatorial Guinea .....................................................................................................65 Eritrea ........................................................................................................................66 Estonia.......................................................................................................................67 Ethiopia .....................................................................................................................68 Fiji ..........................................................................................................................69 Finland ......................................................................................................................70 France ........................................................................................................................71 Gabon ........................................................................................................................72 Gambia ......................................................................................................................73 Georgia ......................................................................................................................74 Germany ....................................................................................................................75 Ghana ........................................................................................................................76 Gibraltar ....................................................................................................................77 Greece .......................................................................................................................78 Grenada .....................................................................................................................79 Guatemala .................................................................................................................80