Section 41 : Duty to keep accounting records
95.Section 41 requires the treasurer of a registered party to keep proper accounting records, as a basis for the preparation of an annual statement of accounts. The records must cover both the transactions which the party enters into and its assets and liabilities. They must be preserved for at least six years from the end of the financial year in which they are made (subsection (4)), or until the Electoral Commission has consented to their disposal following de-registration of the party (subsection (5)).
96.Political parties in the United Kingdom do not at present share a common accounting year. The Neill Committee recommended (recommendation 4) that the Commission should be able to prescribe a common accounting period. Subsections (6) and (7) confers the necessary power on the Electoral Commission to specify a common financial year, but it may also specify different financial years for different parties, which might be done so as to enable parties to retain their existing financial year.