Business Record Retention

Workpapers & Reports: Permanent files and workpapers require retention between 7 to 10 years as part of effective accounting record management.

Finance General Ledger: Maintaining accounting information, journal entries, and management reports should be retained for 10 years to permanent as part of the business document retention strategy.

Finance Accounts Receivables: Final invoices, billing files, and customer approvals must be kept for 7 years to ensure compliance with record retention guidelines.

Finance Accounts Payables: Client payments, A/R notes, deposits, and bank statements should also be retained for 7 years.

Finance Payroll: For payroll registers, multi-state payroll deductions, deduction balances, and tax balances, a permanent retention period is necessary.

Finance Time & Expense Processing: Time and expense processing records, including airline purchases and state-specific tracking information, should be retained for 7 years.

Treasury & Cash Management: Treasury daily reports, lockbox sweeps, market cap reports, bank account information, credit, and loan details should be kept for 7 years.

Tax Reporting: Statutory tax filings, cash accruals, meal and entertainment analysis, and tax returns should be preserved for 10 years to permanent.

Administrative Communications: Budgets, scorecards, and administrative records are essential for 7 years.

Quality & Risk Management: Client communications, change acceptance, independence, and conflict checks should be kept for 4 years for good record maintenance.

Note: Industry-specific or regulatory requirements may necessitate longer retention periods, such as OSHA records being retained up to 30 years.

Human Resources: Pre-employment evaluations, self-assessments, college transcripts, and offer/acceptance records should be stored for 7 years.

Legal Records: Important documents like contracts, leases, insurance documents, and ethical compliance records need extensive care in retention practices.

Marketing Records: Marketing records should be retained for 5 years.

General & Administrative: Administrative materials including personal files, meeting agendas, project notes, and proposals are retained for 2 years. Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable records follow the same guideline of 7 years.

Audit Reports: These should be kept permanently.

Chart of Accounts: Retain permanently as part of your accounting record management.

Depreciation Schedules: Important for permanent retention.

Expense Records: Should be stored for 7 years.

Financial Statements (Annual): Considered essential, these records must be kept permanently.

Fixed Asset Purchases: Relevant records should be stored indefinitely.

General Ledger: Requires permanent retention.

Inventory Records: Essential documents maintained permanently.

Loan Payment Schedules: To be kept for 7 years.

Purchase Orders (1 copy): Maintain for 7 years.

Sales Records: Critical documents should be retained for 7 years.

Tax Return: A retention period of 7 years is advised.

Bank Records: Bank reconciliations should be kept for 2 years, while bank statements, canceled checks, and electronic payment records must be retained for 7 years.

Corporate Records: Board minutes, bylaws, business licenses, and major contracts are all critical documents requiring permanent retention.

Contracts - major: Retain for the life of the contract plus 4 years.

Contracts - minor: Retain for the life of the contract plus 3 years.

Insurance Policies: Should be retained permanently.

Leases/mortgages: Essential documents maintained without time limit.

Patents/trademarks: Permanently retained for continuous protection.

Shareholder Records: Must be kept permanently.

Employment Taxes: Store for 3 years.

Payroll Records: Important to maintain for 7 years.

Pension/profit sharing plans: Keep these records for 7 years.

Real Property Records: Construction and leasehold improvement records must be retained permanently.

Lease Payment Records: Should be stored for the life of the lease plus 4 years.

Real Estate Purchases: Retain these records indefinitely.