Data retention policies concern what data should be stored or archived, where that should happen, and for exactly how long. Once the retention time period for a particular data set expires, it can be deleted or moved as historical data to secondary or tertiary storage, depending on the requirements.
A maximum retention period tells you when to destroy a certain record. When this period has lapsed you are really not supposed to have the record anymore. It is time to say goodbye to it. In some countries, though, there are exceptions when you issue a “legal hold notice” or a “tax hold notice”.
Six Key Steps to Developing a Record Retention Policy STEP 1: Identify Types of Records & Media. STEP 2: Identify Business Needs for Records & Appropriate Retention Periods. STEP 3: Addressing Creation, Distribution, Storage & Retrieval of Documents. STEP 4: Destruction of Documents. STEP 5: Documentation & Implementation.
Record Retention Schedule for Businesses DocumentRetention Period Contracts and leases (expired) 7 years Correspondence, general 2 years Correspondence, legal and tax related Permanently Deeds, mortgages and bills of sale Permanently36 more rows
SOX Retention Requirements – 7 Years Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) was modified in 2003 to require relevant auditing and review documents to be retained for seven years after the audit or review of the financial statements is concluded.
Be kept for legal compliance, or that have a limited life as part of an operational activity. These records will be retained for seven years (the current year plus six financial years).
As a general rule of thumb, tax returns, financial statements and accounting records should be retained for a minimum of six years. This six-year period should start from the end of the last company financial year that the record relates to.
Accounting records Type of recordRetention period Bank statements and deposit slips 7 years Production and sales reports 7 years Employee expenses reports 7 years Annual financial statements Permanently3 more rows
Generally, the rule of thumb is to keep records for at least six years. This includes records of all your income, expenses, and any other transactions related to your business.
ISO 27001 Data Retention Requirements – 3 years The ISO 27001 compliance framework requires organizations to retain data logs for at least three years.