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Bookkeeping is the steady, boring part of running a company: every sale, cost and bank movement recorded and matched. It supports everything that comes later, including the financial statements, the tax return and the annual return.
SingaporeCompanySetupGuide.com is an independent guide. We are not ACRA or IRAS and we do not offer bookkeeping. When you ask for quotes here, the request goes to providers that fit, and some of them pay us a referral fee if you become a client.
Is bookkeeping required in Singapore?
Yes. ACRA says directors must keep proper accounting records, in a form that can be used to prepare financial statements giving a true and fair view. Records must be kept for at least five years after the end of the financial year in which the transactions or operations were completed (checked ).
You can do the work yourself or hire a firm. The legal duty stays with the directors either way.
What does a bookkeeping service do?
A normal monthly service covers these tasks:
- Records sales invoices and customer payments.
- Records supplier bills and expenses.
- Matches the bank statements to the ledger.
- Keeps a ledger and a trial balance ready for the accountant.
- Prepares GST workings if you are registered.
- Files digital copies of source documents.
Payroll, the tax return and statement preparation often sit outside plain bookkeeping. See accounting services and payroll services for those layers.
Bookkeeping or accounting: what is the difference?
Bookkeeping records the transactions. Accounting uses them to produce statements and tax filings. Sleek, in its comparison page read in , says no formal licence is needed to do bookkeeping. That is the provider's statement, not an ACRA rule, so judge each firm by the people it assigns to your file.
| Bookkeeping | Accounting | |
|---|---|---|
| Main output | Up-to-date ledger | Financial statements, tax computation |
| Frequency | Monthly or weekly | Yearly, plus tax steps |
| Deadlines it feeds | None directly | ACRA annual return, IRAS Form C-S |
| Who is responsible by law | Directors | Directors |
How much does bookkeeping cost?
We cannot publish a price table, because we did not find a provider page that listed a fixed fee we could read in full. Search results show teaser prices from several firms, but those pages were blocked or did not show scope, so we leave them out. Ask each firm for:
- A monthly fee in writing for your transaction volume.
- What happens when volume rises or falls.
- Whether GST, payroll and bank reconciliations are included.
- The price at renewal.
- A handover of your files and ledger if you leave.
The scope matters more than the headline number. A firm that quotes a low monthly fee but charges extra for each bank account can end up costing more than one with a clear flat rate.
What should I give my bookkeeper?
- Bank statements for every company account. See business bank accounts.
- Sales invoices and supplier bills.
- Receipts and expense claims.
- Payroll summaries.
- Loan agreements, asset purchases and shareholder loans.
- GST tax invoices, if the company is registered. IRAS says to register once annual taxable turnover exceeds S$1 million. See GST registration.
Hand these over on a fixed day each month. Late paperwork is the main reason bookkeeping turns into a catch-up job before filing season.
How do the records connect to filing dates?
Your records feed the dates below, checked :
- IRAS: Estimated Chargeable Income within 3 months after year end, and Form C-S, C-S (Lite) or Form C by 30 November.
- ACRA: AGM within six months after year end and annual return within 7 months, with late penalties of up to S$600.
See corporate tax and the annual return guide for more.
Should I do it myself or hire a service?
Doing it yourself works if you have few transactions and keep to a weekly routine. Hire help when volume grows, when you register for GST, or when the owners live abroad and cannot reconcile the Singapore bank account themselves. Some firms combine bookkeeping with secretary services.
Want a firm to take the monthly work on? Use the quote form on this page and tell us your bank accounts and monthly transactions.
Sources
- ACRA: company directors' duties: accounting records and the five-year rule.
- ACRA: annual return deadlines: seven-month deadline and penalty.
- IRAS: filing guidance for Form C-S: ECI and 30 November.
- IRAS: GST registration: S$1 million threshold.
- Sleek: accounting versus bookkeeping: provider statement on licensing, read .
- Airwallex: do I need a business bank account: five-year record rule quoted from IRAS for the self-employed.
