Document Retention Recommendations
So how long are you supposed to hold on to those documents anyway? The following are a CPA’s recommendations on keeping documents. (Note: These recommendations on document retention are general guidelines. Time documents should be kept according to appropriate laws, IRS and governmental regulations, and third-party requirements.)
| Auditors’ reports | Permanent |
| Bank debt deduction | 7 |
| Bank deposit slips, reconciliations, statements | 4 |
| Bills of lading | 4 |
| Budgets | 2 |
| Checks - cancelled | 4 |
| Contracts - purchase and sales | 4* |
| Credit memos | 4 |
| Depreciation records | 4* |
| Employee expense reports | 4 |
| Employee payroll records (W-2, W-4, annual earnings records, etc.) | 6* |
| Financial statements — annual | Permanent |
| Financial statements — interim | 4 |
| Freight bills | 4 |
| Internal reports (Work orders, sales reports, production reports) | 4 |
| Inventory lists | 4 |
| Invoices - Sales and cash register receipts, merchandise purchases | 4 |
| Invoices — purchases (permanent assets) | 4* |
| General ledger | Permanent |
| Journals | |
|
General, cash receipts, cash disbursement, and purchase journals. |
Permanent |
|
Payroll journal |
4 |
| Petty cash vouchers | 4 |
| Subsidiary ledgers (accounts receivable, accounts payable, etc.) | 6 |
| Time cards and daily time reports | 4 |
| Worthless securities | 7 |
01 Response to “Document Retention Recommendations”
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October 9th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
[…] risk management can include marketing, credit, operations management, customer service, and more. Document retention is another area of risk management - see my previous post on that, which outlines how long […]