The Insolvency (Northern Ireland) Order 1989

Failure to keep proper accounts of business

332.—(1) Where the bankrupt has been engaged in any business for any of the 2 years immediately preceding petition, he shall be guilty of an offence if he—

(a) has not kept proper accounting records throughout that period and throughout any part of the initial period in which he was so engaged, or

(b) has not preserved all the accounting records which he has kept.

(2) It shall be a defence for a person charged with an offence under paragraph (1)—

(a) if his unsecured liabilities at the commencement of the bankruptcy did not exceed the amount specified by order under Article 362(1)(b), or

(b) to prove that in the circumstances in which he carried on business the omission was honest and excusable.

(3) For the purposes of this Article a person is deemed not to have kept proper accounting records if he has not kept such records as arenecessary to show or explain his transactions and financial position in his business, including—

(a) records containing entries from day to day, in sufficient detail, of all cash paid and received,

(b) where the business involved dealings in goods, statements of annual stocktakings, and

(c) except in the case of goods sold by way of retail trade to the actual customer, records of all goods sold and purchased showing the buyers and sellers in sufficient detail to enable the goods and the buyers and sellers to be identified.

(4) In relation to any such records as are mentioned in paragraph (3), paragraphs (2)(d) and (3)(b) of Article 326 apply with the substitution of 2 years for 12 months.