Document Retention Automation
Automate your document retention management policies with Centralpoint. Centralpoint empowers you with easy to use tools to define each of your many retention policies, including custom filters, queries, and start and end dates. Centralpoint also stores information about each of your storage repositories, supporting connections to Shared File Folders, SQL, Oracle, IBM and even web services to third party providers like Workday, Citibank, ADP and others. This allows you to fully automate the spidering, detecting, archiving and deleting all records from everywhere which fall outside of your allow able retention policies; including live reporting to show you are compliant. Consider Centralpoint as your Compliance Appliance.
Centralpoint's scheduled feature will visit each of these silos at a frequency you select to find any record which is considered to be expired, based upon your retention policies. Any files detected can be routed to the appropriate adiministrator to authorize the destruction of those records; and when approved, Centralpoint will destroy all records from each system recording each step. Centralpoint (Automated) Document Retention Policy Management helps you to remain compliant on a continual basis.
Businesses are required by law to retain confidential client, employee, and company information for a minimal amount of time. But many documents eventually outlive their purpose, and holding onto them for too long puts you at risk of a security breach and non-compliance with today’s privacy legislation. How long you store business records should be determined by a retention schedule that balances each record’s usefulness with the legal requirements. This schedule will depend on the type of business and the lifecycle of specific documents.
Below is a document retention schedule that outlines how long you should hold on to important documents. After their retention period is complete, you should ensure that they are securely destroyed by a third-party information security provider. Please note that these recommendations on document retention are general guidelines only. They are not intended to represent legal advice. Contact your legal expert(s) or federal, state or provincial government to ensure you are following current legal requirements for your area.
Alphabetized by Document Category
ACCOUNTING |
Retention Period |
AR/AP Ledger |
7 Years |
Bank Reconciliations |
2 Years |
Cash Disbursements/ Receipts |
Permanently |
Chart of Accounts |
Permanently |
Depreciation Schedule |
Permanently |
Expense Reports |
7 years |
Financial Statements |
Permanently |
General Ledger |
Permanently |
Inventory Records |
Permanently |
Journal Entries |
Permanently |
Petty Cash Records |
7 years |
Tax Returns |
Permanently |
HUMAN RESOURCES & PAYROLL |
Retention Period |
Accident Reports |
7 Years |
Attendance |
7 Years |
Benefits |
5-7 Years |
Employment Applications |
3 Years |
Payroll - After Termination |
10 Years |
Personnel - After Termination |
7 Years |
Personnel - Current Employee |
Permanently |
Safety Reports |
5 Years |
Salary History |
8 Years |
Time Reports |
7 Years |
SHIPPING AND RECEIVING |
Retention Period |
Export Declarations |
4 Years |
Freight Bills |
4 Years |
Manifests |
4 Years |
Waybills and Bills of Lading |
4 Years |
CORPORATE / LEGAL |
Retention Period |
Annual Report |
Permanently |
Articles of Incorporation |
Permanently |
Audit Reports - External |
Permanently |
Audit Reports - Internal |
6 Years |
Contracts |
Permanently |
Copyrights, Trademarks, Patents |
Permanently |
Correspondence, General |
2 Years |
Correspondence, Legal/Tax |
Permanently |
Correspondence, Routine |
7 Years |
Mortgages, Licences, Deeds |
Permanently |
Organizational Charts |
Permanently |
Partnership Agreements |
Permanently |
PURCHASING AND SALES |
Retention Period |
Purchase orders |
3 Years |
Requisitions |
3 Years |
Sales contracts |
3 Years |
Sales invoices |
3 Years |
* Retention periods begin after the termination, expiration, disposal, etc., of the item.