Schedule For Record Retention

                                                     Record Retention Schedule
A common and ongoing question facing your business clients is how long they should retain business records. Unfortunately, there is no easy answer to this question. Many factors come into play: type of business, specific needs of management and state and regulatory requirements, among others. However, the following suggested retention schedule provides a rough rule of thumb. In some cases, legal advice may be advisable.

RETAIN PERMANENTLY

  • Accountants’ audit reports
  • Bills of sale for important purchases
  • Canceled checks (for important payments)
  • Capital stock and bond records and other records dealing with the firm’s capital structure
  • Cash books
  • Charts of accounts
  • Contracts and leases(major and/or current)
  • Credit history
  • Deeds and mortgages
  • Financial statements (year- end)
  • General and private ledgers
  • Insurance records
  • Journal
  • Minute books, bylaws and certificate of incorporation
  • Property appraisals
  • Property records
  • Tax returns(along with all related documents and worksheets
  • Trademark registrations

RETAIN FOR 7 YEARS

  • Accident reports and claims (settled cases)
  • Accounts payable and receivable ledgers and schedules
  • Canceled checks (for unimportant payments)
  • Canceled stock and bond certificates
  • Contracts and leases (expired)
  • Expense analyses and distribution schedules
  • Expired option records
  • Inventories (of products, materials, and supplies)
  • Invoices (customer and vendor)
  • Notes receivable ledgers and schedules
  • Payroll records and related documents (including pensioners’ payments)
  • Plant cost ledgers
  • Purchasing department copy of purchase orders
  • Royalty computations
  • Sales records
  • Scrap and salvage records
  • Subsidiary ledgers
  • Time books
  • Vouchers for payments to vendors, employees and related parties

RETAIN FOR 5 YEARS

  • Excise tax computations
  • Internal audit reports

RETAIN FOR 3 YEARS

  • Correspondence (general)
  • Employee savings bond registration records
  • Employment applications
  • Insurance policies (expired)
  • Miscellaneous internal report
  • Petty cash vouchers
  • Physical inventory tags

RETAIN FOR 2 YEARS

  • Proxies for voting security holders

RETAIN FOR 1 YEAR

  • Bank reconciliations
  • Duplicate bank deposit tickets
  • Purchase orders (not purchasing dept. copy)
  • Receiving sheets
  • Requisitions
  • Stenographers’ note- books
  • Stockroom withdrawal forms