Every cooperative society shall keep at its Head office the following accounts, records and documents, namely:
- Accounts of all sums of money received and expended by the cooperative society and their respective purposes.
- Account of all purchases and sales of goods by the cooperative society.
- Account of the assets and liabilities of the cooperative society.
Provided that where a cooperative society has branch offices, summarised statements of accounts relating to such branch office, shall be available at the Head office for each quarter of financial year within fifteen days of the end of that quarter. The books of accounts relating to a period of at least ten years before the current financial year together with supporting records and vouchers shall be preserved unless otherwise require for a longer period.
Audit:
- The Registrar or such other person as may be authorized in this behalf shall audit or cause to be audited by auditors of the department or by some person authorised by him, by a general or special order in ‘writing in this behalf, the accounts prepared by every registered society and society under liquidation once at least in every year:
Provided that State Government shall also maintain a panel of auditors consisting of Chartered Accountants and any cooperative society shall have the option to get the accounts audited by an auditor out of this panel subject to the condition that accounts of such cooperative society shall have to be audited by departmental auditors at least once in every three years. - The Registrar or the person authorised by him in this behalf shall at all reasonable times have free access to the books, accounts, documents, securities, cash and other properties belonging to or in the custody of the society and may summon any person in possession or responsible for custody of any such books, accounts, documents, securities, cash or other properties to produce the same and furnish such information in regard to the transactions and working of the society at any convenient place or at the head quarters of the society or any branch thereof by the same means and so far as may be in the same manner as provided in the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (Central Act V of 1908).
- In respect of every audit of the accounts a registered society shall pay such audit fee as may be prescribed by the Registrar of Cooperative Societies and such fee shall be deemed to be outstanding dues from the society.
- The accounts of every cooperative society shall be audited within six months of the close of the financial year to which such account relates.
Power of the Registrar to have the accounts written up-If at the time of the audit the accounts of a registered society are not complete the Registrar or with his sanction the audit officer may cause the accounts to be written up at the expense of the society.
Such expenses shall be realised by the auditor from the society concerned along with the audit fee.
Nature of audit:
The audit shall include among others
- A verification of the cash balance and securities;
- A verification of the balance at the credit of the depositors and creditors and the amounts due from the debtors of the society;
- An examination of overdue debts, if any;
- The valuation of the assets including stock verifications, and liabilities of the society;
- An examination of the statement of accounts and balance sheets to be prepared by the managing body of the society in such forms as may be prescribed;
- A certification of the realised profits; and
- Any other relevant matter.
Audit report:
The Audit Officer shall within a fortnight from the date of completion of audit, submit to the registered society and to the Registrar. A registered society shall be afforded by the Registrar an opportunity of explaining any defects, or irregularities pointed out and objected to by the audit officer and thereafter, the society shall within such time and in such manner as the Registrar may direct, remedy such defects and irregularities and report to the Registrar, the action taken by it thereon.
The Boards of all societies shall take follow up action on the audit report and shall submit a report to the Registrar within 3 months of acceptance of report by the Annual General Meeting of the society. The non compliance of above shall disqualify the Board in office after expiry of three months period.
