China’s Accounting Law: Accounting Practice
China’s Accounting Law: Accounting Practice
Article 22 of the Accounting Law stipulates that the text of accounting records shall be in Chinese. In ethnic autonomous areas, a commonly used ethnic language may also be used for accounting records. The accounting records of foreign-invested enterprises, foreign enterprises, and other foreign entities within the territory of the PRC may use a foreign language simultaneously.
Accounting archives refer to professional accounting documents, such as accounting vouchers, accounting books, and financial reports, and are important documents and evidence to record and reflect the economic transactions of the entity. The accounting archives of an entity formed every year must be organized and arranged, bound into volumes, and compiled into a detailed inventory for storage by its accounting department in accordance with the filing requirements. The storage period of accounting archives is divided into permanent period and regular period. The regular storage period may be 3, 5, 10, 15, or 25 years. The storage period is counted from the first day after the end of the accounting year. After the expiration of storage period, accounting archives may be destroyed according to legal procedures.
Robert Zhang 
Steve Li 