Organizing, filing and retaining old records is a burden for many businesses. The following types of record and retention periods are general guidelines and should be tempered by your own business and investment concerns.
ACCOUNTING & FISCAL
PERSONNEL
Accounts Payable Records
6
Contracts (After Termination)
5
Accounts Receivable Records
6
Earning Records
6
Audit Reports (CPA)
P
Employee Personnel Files
3
Audit Reports (Internal)
3
Employment Applications
5
Bank Statements & Reconciliations
3
Insurance Records
P
Canceled Checks
7
Retirement & Pension Plans
P
Check Registers
P
Time Cards
2
Deposit Slip Duplicates
2
Training Manuals
P
Expense Analysis & Distribution Schedules
7
Travel Records
1
Financial Statements
P
Fixed Asset Records
P
General Ledgers
P
Invoices
7
Journals/Cash Books
7
Payroll Records
6
TAXATION
CORPORATE
Annuity or Deferred Payment Plan
P
Annual Reports
P
Depreciation Schedules
P
Bonds
P
Dividend Register
P
Budgets
3
Employee Withholding Statements
7
Capital Stock Ledgers
P
Tax Bills & Statements
P
Contracts (After Expiration)
7
Tax Returns & Work Papers
P
Copyrights
P
Employment Tax Records
4
Correspondence (General)
3
Correspondence (Legal)
P
If you are still uncertain if a document is worthy
Insurance Policies (After Expiration)
5
of space in the filing cabinet, determine its
Inventories
7
usefulness according to these categories:
Leases (After Expiration)
6
Legal Briefs
P
Must Keep - Vital
Licenses
P
Need for Reference - Essential
Merger Acquisition Records
P
Want to Keep - Useful
Minutes
P
Keep Just in Case - Non-Essential
Office Equipment Records
6
Patents
P
Profit & Loss Statements
P
Property Records
P
Trademark Records
P
(Numerals indicate number of years records should be stored, P = permanently).
Remember: This Record Retention Schedule is intended to be only a guide.
