Retention Policy
RECORD RETENTION AND DESTRUCTION POLICY
1)
Purpose
The purpose of
this Policy is to ensure that necessary records and documents of the Ardara Sweet Co. Ltd. are adequately protected and maintained and to ensure that
records that are no longer needed by Ardara Sweet Co. Ltd or are of no value are discarded at the proper
time. This Policy is also for the
purpose of aiding employees of Ardara Sweet Co. Ltd in understanding their obligations in retaining electronic documents -
including e-mail, Web files, text files, online accounts, orders, customer information, PDF documents,
and all Microsoft Office or other formatted files.
2)
Policy
This Policy
represents the Ardara Sweet Co. Ltd’s policy regarding the
retention and disposal of records and the retention and disposal of electronic
documents.
3)
Administration
Attached as
Appendix A is a Record Retention Schedule that is approved as the initial
maintenance, retention and disposal schedule for physical records of Ardara Sweet Co. Ltd and the retention and disposal schedule of electronic documents.
4)
Suspension of Record Disposal In Event of
Litigation or Claims
In the event the Ardara Sweet Co. Ltd is served with
any legal request for documents or any employee becomes aware of a
governmental investigation or audit concerning Ardara Sweet Co. Ltd, Inc. or
the commencement of any litigation against or concerning the Ardara Sweet Co. Ltd, any further disposal of documents
shall be suspended until shall time as the legal advised to continue.
APPENDIX
A ‑ RECORD RETENTION SCHEDULE
A.
ACCOUNTING AND FINANCE
Record Type | Retention Period |
Accounts Payable ledgers and schedules | 7 years |
Accounts Receivable ledgers and schedules | 7 years |
Annual Audit Reports and Financial Statements | Permanent |
Annual Audit Records, including work papers and
other documents that relate to the audit | 7 years after completion of audit |
Annual Plans and Budgets | 2 years |
Bank Statements and Canceled Checks | 7 years |
Employee Expense Reports | 7 years |
General Ledgers | Permanent |
Interim Financial Statements | 7 years |
Notes Receivable ledgers and schedules | 7 years |
Investment Records | 7 years after sale of investment |
Internal Audit work papers and findings | 7 years after completion |
B.
CONTRACTS
Record Type | Retention Period |
Contracts and Related Correspondence (including any
proposal that resulted in the contract and all other supportive
documentation) | 7 years after expiration or termination |
C.
CORPORATE RECORDS
Record Type | Retention Period |
Corporate
Records (minute books, signed minutes of the Board and all committees,
corporate seals, articles of incorporation, bylaws, annual corporate reports) | Permanent |
Licenses and
Permits | Permanent |
Memorandums
of Understanding | Permanent |
D.
CORRESPONDENCE AND INTERNAL MEMORANDA
General Principle: Most correspondence and internal memoranda
should be retained for the same period as the document they pertain to or
support. For instance, a letter pertaining to a particular contract would be
retained as long as the contract (7 years after expiration). It is recommended
that records that support a particular project be kept with the project and
take on the retention time of that particular project file.
Correspondence or memoranda that do not
pertain to documents having a prescribed retention period should generally be
discarded sooner. These may be divided into two general categories:
1.
Those
pertaining to routine matters and having no significant, lasting consequences
should be discarded within two years. Some
examples include:
· Routine letters and notes that require no
acknowledgment or follow‑up, such as notes of appreciation, congratulations,
letters of transmittal, and plans for meetings.
· Form letters that require no follow‑up.
· Letters of general inquiry and replies that
complete a cycle of correspondence.
· Letters or complaints requesting specific
action that have no further value after changes are made or action taken (such
as name or address change).
· Other letters of inconsequential subject
matter or that definitely close correspondence to which no further reference
will be necessary.
· Chronological correspondence files.
Please note that copies of interoffice
correspondence and documents where a copy will be in the originating department
file should be read and destroyed, unless that information provides reference
to or direction to other documents and must be kept for project traceability.
2.
Those
pertaining to non‑routine matters or having significant lasting consequences
should generally be retained permanently.
E.
ELECTRONIC DOCUMENTS
1.
Electronic Mail: Not all email
needs to be retained, depending on the subject matter.
·
Staff will strive to keep all but an insignificant
minority of their e-mail related to business issues.
·
Staff will not store or transfer Northwest Foundation related e-mail on non-work-related computers
except as necessary or appropriate for Foundation purposes.
·
Staff will take care not to send
confidential/proprietary Foundation information to outside sources.
·
Any e-mail staff deems vital to the performance of
their job should be copied to the staff’s thumb drive.
2.
Electronic Documents: including Microsoft Office
Suite and PDF files. Retention also depends on the subject matter.
· PDF
documents – The length of time that a PDF file should be retained should be based
upon the content of the file and the category under the various sections of
this policy. The maximum period that a PDF file should be retained is 6 years.
PDF files the employee deems vital to the performance of his or her job should
be printed and stored in the employee’s workspace.
· Text/formatted
files - Staff will conduct annual reviews of all text/formatted files (e.g.,
Microsoft Word documents) and will delete all those they consider unnecessary
or outdated. After five years, all text files will be deleted from the network
and the staff’s desktop/laptop. Text/formatted files the staff deems vital to
the performance of their job should be printed and stored in the staff’s
workspace.
3.
Web
Page Files: Internet Cookies
·
All workstations: Internet Explorer should be
scheduled to delete Internet cookies once per month.
Northwest Foundation does not automatically delete electronic files beyond the dates
specified in this Policy. It is the responsibility of all staff to adhere to
the guidelines specified in this policy.
F.
LEGAL FILES AND PAPERS
Record Type | Retention Period |
Legal Memoranda
and Opinions (including all subject matter files) | 10 years after
close of matter |
Litigation Files | 10 year after
expiration of appeals or time for filing appeals |
Court Orders | Permanent |
Requests for
Departure from Records Retention Plan | 10 years |
G.
MISCELLANEOUS
Record Type | Retention Period |
Consultant's
Reports | 2 years |
Material of
Historical Value (including pictures, publications) | Permanent |
Policy and
Procedures Manuals – Original | Current version
with revision history |
Policy and
Procedures Manuals ‑ Copies | Retain current
version only |
Annual Reports | Permanent |