ACCOUNTING RECORDS:	Number of Years to Retain:
Bank Statements and deposit slips	3 years
Payroll - time cards	3 years
Expense Reports	6 years
Subsidiary Ledgers (Accts Payable & Accts Receivable)	6 years
Monthly Trial Balance	6 years
Checks (Payroll and General)	8 years
Payroll - time reports, earnings records	8 years
Vouchers (vendors)	8 years
Audit Reports	Permanent
CORPORATE RECORDS:	Number of Years to Retain:
Mortgages, notes, leases (expired)	8 years
Bylaws, charters, operating certificates,
minutes, cash books, stock & bond records,
checks (for taxes, property),
important contract, Important agreements,	Permanently
copyright & trademark registrations, deeds,
labor agreements, patents, proxies,
pension records
Tax Returns and working papers	Permanently
CORRESPONDENCE:	Number of Years to Retain:
General	3 years
Purchases, shipping & receiving, licenses	6 years
Legal & tax	Permanently
INSURANCE:	Number of Years to Retain:
Expired Policies	4 years
Accident & Fire Inspection Reports	6 years
Group disability records, safety reports	8 years
Claims (after settlement)	10 years
PERSONNEL:	Number of Years to Retain:
Expired Contracts, daily time reports	6 years
Disability and sick benefits records,
terminated personnel files	6 years
Withholding tax statements	6 years
PURCHASING & SALES:	Number of Years to Retain:
Purchase orders, requisitions	3 years
Sales contracts, sales invoices	3 years
****iMPORTANT****
The Office of Management and Budget Circular A-133 requires all entities that receive Federal
funds to retain all documents associated with the funds for a minimum of three years.
Similarly, if the Health Center receives funding from Medicare and Medicaid, all related documents
must be retained for a minimum of three years after the date of final settlement on that year's cost
report.
As a general rule, the documents associated with the Medicare and Medicaid funding should be
retained for at least five years.  This allows for the time lag between the submission of the cost
reports and the settlements from the intermediaries.
The schedule for record retention above was taken from Accounting Policy, Procedures and
Operations Manual for Health Center Chief Financial Officers published by NACHC.