Hochschild Bloom intends the following schedule to be used only as a guide. Be sure to check with your accountant for specific record retention requirements.
Following records should be kept 1 year:
Bank reconciliations
Correspondence (routine) with customers or vendors
Duplicate deposit slips
Receiving sheets
Requisitions
Stenographer’s notebooks
Stockroom withdrawal forms
Following records should be kept 3 years:
Correspondence (general)
Employee personnel records (after termination)
Employment applications
Insurance policies (expired)
Internal audit reports (in some situations, longer retention periods may be desirable)
Internal reports (miscellaneous)
Petty cash vouchers
Physical inventory tags
Savings bond registration records of employees
Following records should be kept 7 years:
Accident reports and claims (settled cases)
Accounts payable ledgers and schedules
Accounts receivable ledgers and schedules
Checks (cancelled but see exception below)
Contracts and leases (expired)
Expense analyses and expense distribution schedules
Inventories of products, materials, and supplies
Invoices from vendors
Invoices to customers
Notes receivable ledgers and schedules
Option records (expired)
Payroll records & summaries, including payments to pensioners
Plant cost ledgers
Purchase orders (except purchasing department copy)
Safety records
Sales records
Scrap and salvage records (inventories, sales, etc.)
Stock and bond certificates (cancelled)
Subsidiary ledgers
Time books
Voucher register and schedules
Vouchers for payments to vendors, employees, etc. (includes allowances and reimbursement of employees, officers, etc., for travel and entertainment expenses)
Following records should be kept permanently:
Audit reports of accountants
Capital stock & bond records; ledgers, transfer registers, stubs showing issues, record of interest coupons, options, etc.
Cash books
Chart of accounts
Checks (cancelled for important payments, i.e., taxes, purchases of property, special contracts, etc. (checks should be filed with the papers pertaining to the underlying transaction)
Contracts and leases still in effect
Correspondence (legal and important matters only)
Deeds, mortgages, and bills of sale
Depreciation schedules
Financial statements (end-of-year, other months optional)
General and private ledgers (& end-of-year trial balances)
Insurance records, current accident reports, claims, policies, etc.
Journals
Minute books of directors & shareholders including by-laws & charter
Property appraisals by outside appraisers
Property records including costs, depreciation reserves, end-of-year trial balances, depreciation schedules, blueprints & plans
Retirement plan records
Tax returns & worksheets, revenue agents’ reports, & other documents relating to determination of income tax liability
Trade mark registrations
