05/ 25/ 2006
by Amy Cates
Face it: The paperless office will never exist. Invoices, receipts, tax forms, HR files—we love our paper, but we don't always know what to do with it. "When paper comes in, it has to have a place to go," explains Cyndi Seidler, president of HandyGirl Organizers, a Los Angeles-based company she launched in 1994. "Businesses need to realize that document management is as important as running any department of their company."
Bulky, disorganized files and desktop clutter cost a company time and money in copying, filing and searching. The first step in knowing what to keep (and where to keep it) is setting up an efficient filing system. Seidler follows a categorized system. Each category has sublevels. For example, under accounting, she includes assets, banking, credit, ledgers, payables, payroll and tax. Under legal, she files contracts, rights, leases and claims.
Once a file system is established, schedule what Seidler calls a "purge-a-thon" on a regular basis. Enlist electronic storage devices (CDs, online storage), but don't be too quick to destroy paper, she says. A CD should serve only as a backup, not a replacement of important papers. Online storage provides a safe, efficient alternative to store documents. "You're actually putting it on another secure server," Seidler says.
Keep permanently:
Audit reports, capital records, cashbooks, charts of accounts, checks, legal correspondence, deeds and mortgages, year-end financial statements, insurance records, board minutes, patents, property records and appraisals, tax returns and union agreements.
Keep for seven years:
Accident reports, accounts payable and accounts receivable ledgers and schedules, canceled checks, contracts, garnishments, invoices and personnel files.
When you're unsure:
As for magazine articles and reference materials, Seidler has one simple rule: "Scan it and toss the paper. That will streamline what you keep."
Trust NFIB
Find more details on saving and discarding documents, including e-mail and Web pages by downloading the NFIB Legal Foundation's Small-Business Guide to Document Retention at www.NFIB.com/legal.
