How long must we retain documents before they can be shredded?
Good Question! Documents which have outlived their practical and legal usefulness should be properly destroyed. Adherence to a predetermined retention schedule is a sound business practice which reduces risks of litigation and audit. We have a nice reference on document retention here.
Document Retention Schedule
One Year:
- Correspondence of unimportant nature with customers or vendors
- Purchase orders (except purchasing department copies)
- Receiving sheets
- Requisitions
- Stenographers' notebooks
- Stockroom withdrawal forms
Seven Years:
- Accident reports
- Accounts receivable ledgers and related trial balances
- Bank reconciliations
- Bank statements
- Canceled checks (see exception under permanent records)
- Contracts and leases expired
- Duplicate deposit slips
- Expense analyses and expense distribution schedules
- Garnishments
- Inventory summaries of product, materials and supplies
- Invoices to customers and from vendors Journal vouchers
- Notes receivable ledgers and related trial balances
- Payroll records and summaries, including payments to pensioners
- Personnel files (terminated)
- Purchase orders (purchasing department copies)
- Sales records Scrap salvage records -
- Inventories, sales, etc. Subsidiary ledgers to the general ledger and related trial balances
- Time books
- Voucher register and related trial balances