Societies are audited every year under their state's cooperative or apartment law, and the difference between a two-week audit and a two-month ordeal is almost always preparation, not the auditor. This is the checklist version of what auditors ask treasurers for first, and how to have it ready before they ask.
The books themselves
- Trial balance that foots to zero for the full year, with the closing balances of the previous audited year as your opening balances.
- General ledger by account head: maintenance income, sinking fund, repair fund, each expense category, member dues.
- Bank reconciliation for every account, every month. Unreconciled banks are the single most common reason audits stall.
- Cash book, if any cash is handled at all, with physical count certificates at year end.
Income side
- Member-wise dues register: opening dues, billed, collected, closing dues, for every flat.
- Invoice runs with their working: how each charge head was computed (basis, rate, area where applicable).
- Non-member income separately: hall bookings by outsiders, tower rent, interest income, transfer fees.
- GST returns and reconciliations, if the society is registered.
- Receipts against every collection, numbered and unbroken.
Expense side
- Vouchers for every payment, with bills attached and approvals recorded.
- Contracts for recurring vendors: security, housekeeping, lift AMC, with TDS deducted and deposited where applicable.
- Salary registers and statutory payments for society-employed staff.
- Fixed asset register with additions during the year.
Funds and reserves
- Sinking fund: contributions, interest earned, any spending with its general body resolution.
- Repair fund: same treatment.
- Fixed deposit register: every FD with bank, number, principal, rate, maturity; interest accrued correctly.
- Refundable deposits held from members (facility deposits) shown as liabilities, not income.
Governance records
- Minutes of committee meetings and general body meetings, signed.
- Resolutions behind every rate change, fund spend, and large contract.
- The registered bye-laws themselves, and the previous year's audit report with its rectification of past objections.
Auditor's honest telling: objections are rarely about fraud. They are about missing vouchers, banks that do not reconcile, funds mixed into one account, and rate changes with no resolution behind them. All four are habits, not events.
Basaira keeps society books double-entry from day one: every wallet movement, invoice and payment posts to a chart of accounts, the trial balance is always current, dues registers are per flat by construction, and every invoice shows its own math. Audit season becomes exporting reports, not reconstructing a year.
Common questions
When should preparation start?
The honest answer is April, in the sense that monthly reconciliation and voucher discipline are the preparation. As a checklist exercise, six weeks before the audit is comfortable if the habits exist.
Who signs off?
The committee remains responsible for the accounts it presents. The auditor opines; the general body adopts the audited accounts at the AGM.