DOCUMENT RETENTION AND DESTRUCTION SAMPLE POLICY
PURPOSE. The purposes of this document retention policy are The Fuller Center For Housing to enhance compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and to promote the proper treatment of corporate records of the Organization.
POLICY. Following are the specific and general policies of The Fuller Center For Housing relative to document retention and destruction.
Section 1. General Guidelines. Records should not be kept if they are no longer needed for the operation of the organization or required by law. Unnecessary records should be eliminated from the files. The cost of maintaining records is an expense which can grow unnecessarily. The Fuller Center For Housing, from time to time, may establish retention or destruction policies or schedules for specific categories of records in order to ensure legal compliance, and also to accomplish other objectives, such as preserving intellectual property and cost management. Several categories of documents that warrant special consideration are identified below. While minimum retention periods are established, the retention of the documents identified below and of documents not included in the identified categories should be determined primarily by the application of the general guidelines affecting document retention, as well as the exception for litigation-relevant documents and any other pertinent factors.
Section 2. Exception for Litigation-Relevant Documents. The Fuller Center For Housing expects all officers, directors, and employees to comply fully with any published records retention or destruction policies and schedules, provided that all officers, directors, and employees should note the following general exception to any stated destruction schedule: If you believe, or the Organization informs you, that Organization records are relevant to litigation, or potential litigation (i.e., a dispute that could result in litigation), then those records should be preserved until it is determined that the records are no longer needed. That exception supersedes any previously or subsequently established destruction schedule for those records.
Section 3. Minimum Retention Periods for Specific Categories.
the Form 1023 be available for public inspection upon request.
An exception to the three (3) year policy may be sales invoices, contracts, leases, licenses, and other legal documentation. These documents should be kept for at least three (3) years beyond the life of the agreement.
The Organization should keep all documents designated as containing trade secret information for at least the life of the trade secret.
Section 4. Electronic Mail. E-mail that needs to be saved should be either: (i) printed on hard copy and kept in the appropriate file; or (ii) downloaded to a computer file and kept electronically or on computer disk as a separate file.
The retention period depends upon the subject matter of the e-mail, as covered elsewhere in this policy.
While most of the provisions of A-M, above, provide retention policies for most documents maintained by The Fuller Center For Housing, the following table will serve to supplement the policy to the extent documents exist that are not covered above:
Type of Document |
Minimum Requirement |
Accounts payable ledgers and schedules |
7 years |
Audit reports |
Permanently |
Bank Reconciliations |
2 years |
Bank statements |
3 years |
Checks (for important payments and purchases) |
Permanently |
Contracts, mortgages, notes and leases (expired) |
7 years |
Contracts (still in effect) |
Permanently |
Correspondence (general) |
2 years |
Correspondence (legal and important matters) |
Permanently |
Correspondence (with customers and vendors) |
2 years |
Deeds, mortgages, and bills of sale |
Permanently |
Depreciation Schedules |
Permanently |
Duplicate deposit slips |
2 years |
Employment applications |
3 years |
Expense Analyses/expense distribution schedules |
7 years |
Year End Financial Statements |
Permanently |
Insurance Policies (expired) |
3 years |
Insurance records, current accident reports, claims, policies, etc. |
Permanently |
Internal audit reports |
3 years |
Inventories of products, materials, and supplies |
7 years |
Invoices (to customers, from vendors) |
7 years |
Minute books, bylaws and charter |
Permanently |
Patents and related Papers |
Permanently |
Payroll records and summaries |
7 years |
Personnel files (terminated employees) |
7 years |
Retirement and pension records |
Permanently |
Tax returns and worksheets |
Permanently |
Timesheets |
7 years |
Trademark registrations and copyrights |
Permanently |
Withholding tax statements |
7 years |
The foregoing represents the current document retention and destruction policy of The Fuller Center For Housing as adopted and approved by its Board of Directors as of the __ day of _____________, 20__.
_________________________________
Secretary
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