What are the important documents in business?

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n business, paramount importance has to be given to the documentation as this is one department that will help the business to not only function smoothly but also efficiently. The following are the main reasons why documentation is extremely important in the field of business:

A record of all the income that is related to the daily operation of businesses. The documents which are broadly classified as gross receipts must include a copy if the cash invoices, bank deposit counterfoils, receipt of stock and any other forms that is mandatorily required by the local laws to be submitted along with the filing of taxes;
A comprehensive report of the checks that are honored or cancelled, invoices that have been sent by suppliers, bank card statements, bank and cash reconciliation statements, etc are also of paramount importance as they help keep the cash flow through the banks and other institutions in perspective;
Any documents that are related to business travel stay or spent in acquiring new business has also to be maintained as important relative documents;
If the business involves any logistics like transporting of goods and custom clearances, then detailed reports of the same have to be filed along with the necessary gate passes and custom related certifications in case the business relates to any goods or services being imported or exported;
The documents related to the asset acquisition by the business, its maintenance, the money spent on its improvement like creation of an amenity as also any deductions like depreciation in the value of the property throughout the years has to also be documented;
Documents relating to purchase and maintenance of an automobile, its cost of maintenance, additional cost of fuel and service an deduction in the form of depreciation of the same;
If the business house is hiring employees then a record of the employees and their payroll details and also tax deductions and mode of payment has to be taken care of.
Documents related to insurance and assurance of the business, its stock and the property owned by it;
The corporate statutes of most of the countries in the world expect a newly formed company to submit in written format it’s Memorandum of Association (MoU) and the Articles of Association (AoA) to be submitted to the Company Law Board in the respective countries. (a bit more about important documents in every company here)

If the list above made you think it is conclusive then think again. The list of documents in business and its management is not exhaustive. In fact, every time there is a new legislation that is passed, the statutory requirement of maintaining and producing the documents increases by manifold.

The importance of documentation in business management:

The importance of business documentation is highly understated. If the business is to run smoothly and efficiently then the first step that the business house must do is to invest in good organization of documents and a software that will not only keep a record of the stock and the cash flow that comes in and goes out but also make sure that the documents remain safe either in the physical form or in a printable digital form.

Documentation instills confidence:

Proper documentation has the ability to instill immense confidence in the business. The morale of its employees, its clients/customers and existing and prospective investors is also hugely bolstered due to the ability of the company to maintain all documents and to produce them when needed at the wink of an eye.

It is known commonly that anything that is writing is clear cut and thus proper documentation in business also strives to continuously check the business and whether it is going in the right direction of its original ambitions. Most of all the people who invest in these businesses get complete assurance of the validity of the business and thus are never in two minds about the competency of a business that maintains correct documents.

Can we claim to be hundred percent paperless?

Even if we are striving towards a paperless business environment, right now we just cannot claim to be one. The physical storage of documents in a company is as high and as crucial as digitization of its existing and future documentation requirements.