How long should I keep financial records?

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dwpepper
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How long should I keep financial records?

#1

Post by dwpepper »

I have hard copy financial records (reimbursement receipts and month-end statements) dating back over a decade and I would like to free up cabinet space. How many years worth of records should I keep?
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aebrown
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#2

Post by aebrown »

dwpepper wrote:I have hard copy financial records (reimbursement receipts and month-end statements) dating back over a decade and I would like to free up cabinet space. How many years worth of records should I keep?
You should keep them for the retention period. For the US, that is three years plus the current year. For other countries, consult your administrative office.
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crislapi
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#3

Post by crislapi »

See the attachment in this post.
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aebrown
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#4

Post by aebrown »

crislapi wrote:See the attachment in this post.
Do not see that attachment. That retention policy is out of date.

In fact, there is no longer any version of that document that is official. Instead, the record retention policy is very simply stated in the wiki under Retention guidelines. That's all you need.
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mlh78
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#5

Post by mlh78 »

aebrown wrote:Do not see that attachment. That retention policy is out of date.

In fact, there is no longer any version of that document that is official. Instead, the record retention policy is very simply stated in the wiki under Retention guidelines. That's all you need.

What is the source for the wiki version of the record retention policy?
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aebrown
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#6

Post by aebrown »

mlh78 wrote:What is the source for the wiki version of the record retention policy?
It was entered by a Church employee at the direction of the director over the record retention policy.
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allenjpl
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#7

Post by allenjpl »

aebrown wrote:It was entered by a Church employee at the direction of the director over the record retention policy.

Assuming a new clerk doesn't know about the Wiki (despite MLS messages) and doesn't frequent the forum, how does he learn the 2008 Retention Policy has been superseded or is out of date? Was there a publication that sets out the record retention policy?
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aebrown
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#8

Post by aebrown »

allenjpl wrote:Assuming a new clerk doesn't know about the Wiki (despite MLS messages) and doesn't frequent the forum, how does he learn the 2008 Retention Policy has been superseded or is out of date? Was there a publication that sets out the record retention policy?
When I heard of this change, I begged the person I was speaking with to publish the new policy in an MLS message, for precisely the reasons you noted. But all I got was a noncommittal statement that he would see if that might be possible -- I guess there are a lot of steps involved in getting such messages approved.

That was back at the end of August, so either it's taking a long time to get a message composed and approved, or it's not happening.
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crislapi
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#9

Post by crislapi »

Any objection to someone like us editing the policy in the wiki to make it more correct?
For example, the removable media can be kept in the filing cabinet in the clerk's office. It does not have to be kept in the bishop or stake president's office. I'd clarify #2 to say 3 years plus current year in the USA. I'd remove the "Once you've reconciled December) bit from filing recommendations, and would consider rewording the "box and store all records" since technically the records should be kept in the locked filing cabinet and not stored in a box.
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aebrown
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#10

Post by aebrown »

crislapi wrote:Any objection to someone like us editing the policy in the wiki to make it more correct?
For example, the removable media can be kept in the filing cabinet in the clerk's office. It does not have to be kept in the bishop or stake president's office. I'd clarify #2 to say 3 years plus current year in the USA. I'd remove the "Once you've reconciled December) bit from filing recommendations, and would consider rewording the "box and store all records" since technically the records should be kept in the locked filing cabinet and not stored in a box.
I'd recommend that you stay away from the Retention Guidelines section at the top; that is the actual policy that was put there by a Church employee. But the rest is simply community-contributed suggestions, and some of it is clearly out of date or inaccurate. So I say go for it -- give it a nice overhaul.
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