Retention period
Encyclopedia
The retention period of a document is an aspect of records management
. It represents the period of time a document should be kept or "retained". At the termination of the retention period, the document is usually destroyed. The term is generally used by accountants and tax professionals whose occupation involves dealing with legal documents that only need to remain in existence for a certain amount of time. The retention period varies for different types of records. For example, business incorporation documents have a permanent retention period (meaning that they should be retained and never be destroyed), but receipts for tax-deductible purchases by an individual taxpayer usually have a three-year retention period (and can often be safely discarded after that point.) The length of the retention period is based on the likelihood that the document will be needed at some point in the future. Records that will serve no further purpose (as determined by the length of their retention period) are destroyed for space issues, usually by paper shredder
s.
Retention requirements are also established for a variety of electronic records in industry-specific legislation (such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act
) and regulatory bodies (such as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
) in the United States
.
Records management
Records management, or RM, is the practice of maintaining the records of an organization from the time they are created up to their eventual disposal...
. It represents the period of time a document should be kept or "retained". At the termination of the retention period, the document is usually destroyed. The term is generally used by accountants and tax professionals whose occupation involves dealing with legal documents that only need to remain in existence for a certain amount of time. The retention period varies for different types of records. For example, business incorporation documents have a permanent retention period (meaning that they should be retained and never be destroyed), but receipts for tax-deductible purchases by an individual taxpayer usually have a three-year retention period (and can often be safely discarded after that point.) The length of the retention period is based on the likelihood that the document will be needed at some point in the future. Records that will serve no further purpose (as determined by the length of their retention period) are destroyed for space issues, usually by paper shredder
Paper shredder
A paper shredder is a mechanical device used to cut paper into chad, typically either strips or fine particles. Government organizations, businesses, and private individuals use shredders to destroy private, confidential, or otherwise sensitive documents...
s.
Retention requirements are also established for a variety of electronic records in industry-specific legislation (such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act
Sarbanes-Oxley Act
The Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002 , also known as the 'Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act' and 'Corporate and Auditing Accountability and Responsibility Act' and commonly called Sarbanes–Oxley, Sarbox or SOX, is a United States federal law enacted on July 30, 2002, which...
) and regulatory bodies (such as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is the United States federal agency with jurisdiction over interstate electricity sales, wholesale electric rates, hydroelectric licensing, natural gas pricing, and oil pipeline rates...
) in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.