4 Myths of Record Storage

By in

Despite what you may have heard in political trials and your fears during tax season, not every record is sacred. Hopefully, this list will help you streamline your ERM system.

Myth 1: Not EVERY email is sacred... here’s a list of  what you need to keep and what you can safely delete:

KEEP:

Operational Messages:                                                                

  • opinions, decisions or positions                                
  • initiate, authorize or complete a transaction                       

Functional Messages:

  • Formal Agreements
  • Decisions, confirmations of actions
  • Confirmation of completion

DELETE:

Transitory Messages:get rid of these when no longer relevant

  • Information used for casual communication
  • Information used for reference or convenience only

Personal:

  • Discussions not related to business

Reference:

  • Documents downloaded from the web
  • Documents available electronically which can be used to produce a hardcopy version and/or a duplicate is maintained in Shared files

Myth 2 Once a record becomes inactive, no one needs to access it again.

If an auditor come calling, you need to have a history of records pertinent to your business readily available. The length of history depends on your business and the document type.

Myth 3 Only paper records are legally valid and binding

As long as the electronic records management (ERM system) you’re using is compliant and certified, physical records can be destroyed. SecurShred is NAID certified and compliant with many records management certifications.

Myth 4 Every record should be kept indefinitely

Typically, the IRS requests you keep records for 3 years. We go in-depth on what to keep, what to toss on our blog post.