Documents / Records Management

100 Accounting Policies and Procedures

Policy Reference:
Policy Name:
Original Effective Date:
Revised Effective Date:

AC-113
Documents/Records Management
09/16/2016
01/01/2021

113.1 Policy Statement

Alfalit maintains specific organizational and historical documents & records within prescribed timelines to secure information, mitigate risk, and comply with retention laws and regulations. Alfalit also uses specific destruction/deletion guidelines to ensure consistent, effective operations.

113.2 Policy Detail

a. All documents/records are maintained per federal, state, and local statutes.
b. Documents/records are retained for specific holding periods depending on the category of the document/record to be stored.
c. This policy facilitates the fulfillment of the board of directors’ duty of care, establishes transparency, and ensures compliance.
d. Document/record retention policies are recognized on the IRS Form 990 as a standard best practice for nonprofits.
e. Alfalit’s Finance & Operations Manager or someone fulfilling a similar role within the organization is responsible for ensuring this policy is maintained and updated as needed and that Alfalit complies with the policy.
f. Electronically stored documents/records are subject to the exact schedules and guidelines as hard copied documents/records.
g. If Alfalit becomes involved in any legal proceeding, all document/record destruction/deletion will cease until prudent to return to the established policy.
h. All officers, board members, staff, volunteers, interns, and consultants must maintain and protect any electronic or hard copy information they may receive in their Alfalit role and destroy/delete when no longer needed.
i. The full official schedule [“schedule”] of documents/records to be retained and destruction/deletion timeframes is noted on Appendix 113. I.
j. Certain documents/records not on the schedule may be retained purely for historical purposes.

113.3 Procedures

a. The Finance & Operations Manager determines how the documents/records will be organized and stores as noted on the schedule.
b. If relevant documents/records exist that are not on the schedule, the Finance & Operations Manager will determine the need for storage/security and revise the schedule as needed.
c. Before any documents/records are retained or destroyed, the Finance & Operations Manager is consulted.
d. An electronic log is maintained regarding the documents/records on the schedule and is updated as changes occur. The log includes this information about the documents/records on the schedule:
location
format (electronic or hard copy)
future destruction/deletion date
actual destruction/deletion date
method of destruction
staff/volunteers involved in the destruction/deletion
e. With few exceptions, most documents/records are maintained electronically in an appropriate, secure environment are backed up on a local server and in the cloud.
f. When hard copies are maintained, they are securely maintained by the Finance & Operations Manager in a location they determine appropriate and are included on the log.
g. Electronically stored documents/records may be kept in any accepted, useable format, i.e., .docx, spreadsheet, .pdf, text, or other electronic formats.
h. Access to electronic documents/records is given on an as-need basis as determined by the Finance & Operations Manager and Executive Director.
i. All retained document/record information such as passwords, encryption, and log access is provided to the Executive Director and is reviewed/updated annually by the Business Administrator.
j. All documents containing any financial information, sensitive correspondence, personal information such as names, phones, addresses, emails, etc., and any other confidential items must be shredded as indicated on the schedule. If not on the schedule and the document/record is not determined to be retained, the information must be shredded.
k. Following all meetings, any hard copy hand-outs that are not distributed must be shredded or otherwise destroyed.