Records Management Tips

Review your retention policy

Undang-Undang Dokumen Perusahaan No. 8 1997 is the most frequently referred to Indonesian law that impacts document retention. This law requires preservation of documents that support your Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet for a period of at least 10 years. However, an organisation produces many other kinds of documents that you may be able to keep for much shorter periods and save your storage costs. Not all documents need to be kept for 10 years.

Review retention period

Review your document inventory for documents that have reached the end of their retention period, and make arrangements to destroy them. For commercial records this will most likely be 10 years after 31 December of the year that they were created. Destroying documents on time saves you storage fees, and complying with a retention policy protects you from litigation.

Make sure that you have enough archive boxes

Make sure that you have enough archive boxes on hand to retain your newly archived documents. You don’t need to be an LAT client to purchase these, and they are far cheaper than buying new filing cabinets or shelving.

Avoid duplicate reference numbers

When you archive documents try to keep documents of a single type and single financial period in one box. Record the destruction date and either a barcode or other unique manual reference number on the outside of the carton. Be very careful to avoid duplicate reference numbers which can cause you significant problems when you need to retrieve records.

Provide consistent content information

Make a list of the contents of each box and keep this in a central location. Try to be consistent in the way you capture this information, because if you don’t, it will be difficult to find documents in the future. You may want to use our MYOF software for this purpose.

Yearly backup data to offsite storage

Make a yearly backup of your business’s data to tape and send this to offsite storage. This provides a snapshot of your business at year-end, and also helps your business’s continuity in the event of a disaster.