Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act

Marginal note:Bankrupt failing to keep proper books of account

• 200 (1) Any person becoming bankrupt or making a proposal who has on any previous occasion been bankrupt or made a proposal to the person’s creditors is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction and is liable to a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or to both, if

  • (a) being engaged in any trade or business, at any time within the period beginning on the day that is two years before the date of the initial bankruptcy event and ending on the date of the bankruptcy, both dates included, that person has not kept and preserved proper books of account; or

  • (b) within the period mentioned in paragraph (a), that person conceals, destroys, mutilates, falsifies or disposes of, or is privy to the concealment, destruction, mutilation, falsification or disposition of, any book or document affecting or relating to the person’s property or affairs, unless the person had no intent to conceal the state of the person’s affairs.

• Marginal note:Proper books of account defined

  (2) For the purposes of this section, a debtor shall be deemed not to have kept proper books of account if he has not kept such books or accounts as are necessary to exhibit or explain his transactions and financial position in his trade or business, including a book or books containing entries from day to day in sufficient detail of all cash received and cash paid, and, where the trade or business has involved dealings in goods, also accounts of all goods sold and purchased, and statements of annual and other stock-takings.