What records to keep and why
Records are the documented evidence behind your business figures: sales records and eTIMS invoices (your income), receipts and supplier invoices (your expenses), bank and M-Pesa statements (your money movement), payroll records, and asset and stock records. Together they prove what happened, which both you and KRA rely on.
Good records serve two masters. For you, they make accurate books, profit calculations and decisions possible. For KRA, they back your returns, support your VAT and expense claims, and are what you produce in an audit. Records that are missing or disorganised cost you, in disallowed claims, in penalties, and in the stress of reconstruction.
In Kenya, eTIMS makes this sharper: compliant invoices on sales are themselves required records, and your books should reconcile with them. Keeping organised records is therefore not optional admin; it is the backbone of both running the business and staying compliant.
How to keep good records, step by step
Organise and retain the right documents.
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Step 1: Keep sales records and eTIMS invoices
Retain a record of every sale and its eTIMS invoice. These prove your income and are required compliance records.
- 2
Step 2: Keep expense documents
File receipts and supplier invoices for every cost. These support your expense and VAT input claims at KRA.
- 3
Step 3: Keep bank and M-Pesa statements
Retain statements for your business accounts. They evidence money movement and support reconciliation.
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Step 4: Keep payroll and asset records
Hold records of wages and statutory deductions, and of business assets and stock, for accurate books and compliance.
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Step 5: Organise so you can find anything
Store records so any document can be found quickly, by date and type. Disorganised records are nearly as bad as missing ones.
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Step 6: Retain for the required period
Keep records for the period KRA requires (commonly several years). Do not discard documents you may still need for an audit.
Record keeping mistakes
Throwing away receipts
Discarded receipts mean disallowed claims and weak audit defence. Keep every supporting document.
Disorganised storage
Records you cannot find quickly are barely usable. Organise by date and type so anything is retrievable.
Not keeping eTIMS invoices
Your eTIMS invoices are required records and the basis for reconciliation. Retain them, do not just transmit and forget.
Discarding records too soon
KRA can ask for records going back years. Keep them for the required retention period, not just the current year.
Relying on memory or scattered phones
Records spread across notebooks and personal phones get lost. Keep them in one organised, durable system.
A business sails through an audit
A business in Nairobi kept receipts in a drawer and sales in a notebook, and dreaded the idea of a KRA audit because nothing was organised or reconciled.
They moved to a system that kept sales records and eTIMS invoices automatically, with expenses and documents organised by date and type. Everything reconciled and was instantly retrievable.
When KRA did query a period, they produced the records in minutes and the matter closed quickly. Organised records turned a feared audit into a routine check.
Without clean daily records, tax time turns into guesswork, financing applications stall, and you cannot tell a genuinely good month from a lucky one.
Veira turns every sale into an organised record and a clear report, so your numbers are ready for KRA, a lender or yourself.
How Veira keeps your records organised
Veira keeps your sales records and eTIMS invoices automatically, lets you store expenses and documents alongside them, and keeps everything reconciled and retrievable by date and type. Your records are organised and complete without a drawer full of receipts.
So whether you need to make a decision, file a return, or answer KRA, the records are there, accurate and instant, all from your phone, from KES 2,999 a month.
Frequently asked questions
What records should a small business keep in Kenya?
How long should I keep business records in Kenya?
Why are eTIMS invoices important records?
What happens if I lose receipts?
How should I organise my records?
Can software handle record keeping?
Good records are the backbone of running and complying: they prove your figures, protect your claims, and make audits routine. Veira keeps sales, eTIMS invoices and documents organised and retrievable automatically, from KES 2,999 a month. See how Veira keeps your records and book a free demo.