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Purpose

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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• Destroys outdated and useless records.  

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Reference

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Board of Regents Regulation 05.08.01 (Currently under revision)

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Policy

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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.