102 - Departmental Financial Record Retention

Finance 102: Departmental Financial Record Retention (Interim)

Purpose

This policy is intended to ensure that the university:

  • Meets legal standards.

  • Optimizes the use of space.

  • Minimizes the cost of record retention.

  • Destroys outdated and useless records.  

Reference

Board of Regents Regulation 05.08.01 (Currently under revision)

Policy

Financial records must be retained by UAA departments for the periods listed below:

  Retention Periods for Financial Records  

Type of Records

Retention
Period

Comments
General Financial Records    
Interdepartmental billing computations,
receipt acknowledgments, and other
documents of service departments
substantiating interdepartmental charges		 Five years Failure to adhere to this policy could
result in cost disallowance to UAA and
possible charge-backs of previous billings
to departments.
Documentation of purchases made with a
UAA Purchasing Card.  Documentation
includes cash register receipts and
other point of sale documents that specify
what was purchased.		 Seven years All documentation for Purchasing Card
transactions is maintained in the
department making the purchase.  The
documentation must be available for
review/audit for seven years.
Cash receipts details and cash register tapes Three years

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Departments with delegated journal
voucher entry and approval authority will
be responsible for the retention of the
supporting documentation		 See
Comments		 Supporting documentation must be
retained until it has been transmitted to
Statewide Fund Accounting for
microfilming (approximately 18 months
after the end of the fiscal year).
Reconciliation forms and supporting
documentation for ticket, pass and permit
sales must be retained to substantiate
activity.		 Three years

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All other financial records including
accounting system printouts		 Three years Financial Services typically maintains a
copy of these records for seven years.
Sponsored Project Records    

Project documentation including the
following:

  • Credit card purchase documentation
  • Progress, technical, intellectual
    property and equipment inventory
    reports
  • Correspondence pertaining to the award
 Retention Period
as indicated
above plus
three years
after the
submission of
the last
financial
report on the
project		 If any litigation, claim, or audit has started
before the expiration of the three year
period, the records should be retained
until the findings involved have been resolved.

  Departments with limited storage space may contact Material Management for information on storage alternatives.

Effective: 07/10/2005, Revised: 6/27/2007