Whatever type of activity the organization is engaged in, in the course of its life, it creates serious volumes of documentation that must be preserved. The larger the company and the broader the scope of its activities, the greater the volume of accumulated documents. Naturally, sooner or later the question of sorting and destruction of irrelevant documentation arises. It remains to determine what can be destroyed and what still needs to be preserved.
Instructions
Step 1
In order to systematize the documentation, for each document received for storage, it is necessary to determine the storage period, after which the document can be destroyed without risk to the organization.
Use the approved list of documents for which the storage period is established by Rosarchiv. The main document that should be guided by when systematizing this kind of documentation is the "List of typical management documents generated in the activities of organizations, indicating the storage time" (approved by Rosarchiv on 06.10.2000)
Step 2
Also study the departmental checklists that you will need to resort to if your organization falls under departmental qualifications (for example, there are checklists for military departments, banking departments, etc.). For the most common types of organizations, lists of documentation have also been formed (for example, for joint stock companies).
Step 3
A number of documents are subject to storage in accordance with their specifics, for example, tax documents must be kept for a period of at least 4 years, and financial statements - at least 5 years.
Step 4
The use of lists is the most convenient way to organize documents, since there is a clear retention period for each type of documentation. However, not all documents can be categorized into lists. For some documents, the storage period should be established by the organization itself.
To this end, the organization, by an appropriate order, creates an expert commission, which on a regular basis examines the value of documents, determining the storage periods and destroying documents for which the storage period has expired or is not required. It is important that the commission includes people who are able to calculate the relevance of the document and the likely risks from its loss.
