Sarbanes-Oxley Records Retention

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 is mandatory. ALL organizations, large and small, MUST comply. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act was signed into law on 30 July 2002 by President Bush and introduced major changes to the regulation of financial practice and corporate governance.  The Act is designed to oversee the financial reporting landscape for finance professionals. Its purpose is to review legislative audit requirements and to protect investors by improving the accuracy and reliability of corporate disclosures. Named after Senator Paul Sarbanes and Representative Michael Oxley, who were its main architects, it also set a number of deadlines for compliance. The act covers issues such as establishing a public company accounting oversight board, auditor independence, corporate responsibility and enhanced financial disclosure. It also significantly tightens accountability standards for directors and officers, auditors, securities analysts and legal counsel.

Most organizations have adopted or are in the process of adopting rules requiring record retention for seven years for certain records relevant to their audits and reviews of issuers’ financial statements. Records to be retained include an accounting work-papers and certain other documents that contain conclusions, opinions, analyses, or financial data related to the audit or review.

The legislation not only affects the financial side of corporations, it also affects the IT departments whose job it is to store a corporation’s electronic records. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act states that all business records, including electronic records and electronic messages, must be saved for “not less than five years.” The consequences for non-compliance are fines, imprisonment, or both. IT departments are increasingly faced with the challenge of creating and maintaining a corporate records archive in a cost-effective manner.

It is critical that your company’s accounting, finance records and associated records are managed properly, have appropriate retention periods and that the retention process is managed appropriately and transparently. Advantage Records Management & Storage is uniquely positioned to consult, plan, and execute a comprehensive records management and retention program to satisfy your company’s Sarbanes-Oxley compliance program and beyond.