The process of storing contracts is associated with some problems. It so happens that to determine the type of the document, type, term and conditions of its storage, the method of destruction is quite difficult. All of the above factors are regulated by law, but the same contract in different situations may have different validity periods, therefore, often there are problems with determining the duration of storage. For efficient and proper record keeping, it is necessary to clearly understand the procedure and requirements of the legislation in this area in order to avoid fines or penalties. Below we consider the shelf life of sales contracts in the organization.
Purpose of storage
The availability of contracts in constant access is required not only for the period when their validity continues. After that, they are needed to extract any information from them. Most controversial situations in which one or the other party does not fulfill its obligations are resolved in court or in pre-trial procedure by presenting the contract.
In addition, it is possible to conduct inspections at the enterprise by state regulatory authorities. They can request documents for a certain period, in this case, with improper storage in the organization, violation of the terms of their destruction, sanctions in the form of rather impressive fines can be imposed. First of all, the leadership that does not control this process is to blame.
Thus, we conclude that the storage of contracts and other organizational and administrative documentation should be carried out appropriately for a strictly agreed period.
Terms and types of storage
The storage periods of employment contracts in the organization are different. According to the all-Russian classifier of documents, they are classified as organizational and administrative documents. And the terms of their validity are classified in the same way as the shelf life of all documents. Allocate the following contract storage periods in the organization:
- constant;
- long-term (over 10 years);
- short-term (up to 10 years inclusive).
Such a system, which seems to follow from the logic of the documents themselves, is not very convenient to use. This often creates confusion and leads to serious errors in office work.
Standard storage system
A more common type of storage system. As a rule, in most enterprises, contracts are divided into several varieties: core (directly related to the core business of the enterprise), economic and labor.
For example, what is the retention period for service contracts in an organization? The first two categories of documents are inviolable for no more than five years. Employment contracts also have a shelf life of no more than five years. However, there are exceptions. For example, if there is no personal account, then this document will have to be preserved for 75 years. The term of storage of lease agreements in the organization depends on the period for which it is drawn up.
Model and departmental lists
Typical lists list documents that are distributed in most organizations, and departmental ones contain information developed for this particular agency.
There are different types of documents. The lists are regulatory documents used to determine the shelf life and selection of documents for their subsequent storage or destruction.
When compiling nomenclatures of cases and determining the terms of storage of contracts, typical lists are usually used, approved by state bodies, as well as by relevant ministries and departments. The shelf life of supply contracts at the organization is 5 years after expiration.
Archiving
The procedure for transferring documentation that has already expired to the archive may have slight differences in different organizations. In some cases, there is a usual way in which documents are stapled together and put into a metal cabinet, proudly referred to as the archive. Other organizations have an archive, an archivist, and an approved nomenclature of affairs, and the whole process goes according to regulatory documentation. That is, there are certain rules for filing documents, their registration, and so on.
Both options have the right to exist, you need to take into account the specifics of the organization, the volume of workflow and the number of employees. In the case of a large large organization with a large staff, without using an adequate document storage system, it will simply drown in them. The general rule that all organizations try to adhere to, regardless of the form of ownership and the number of employees, is the time for transferring documents to the archive.
Employees are required to submit documents to the archive no earlier than a certain period, which does not depend on when they actually expired. And usually, such archiving occurs at the beginning of the year. That is, even if the contract expired in February, you still need to wait until next year to transfer it to storage. What is the shelf life of business contracts in the organization? The minimum allowable period is 5 years.
Start of contract storage period
This is a very difficult question, since it is in connection with this date that most errors occur. The storage of contracts at most enterprises is the same and begins with the beginning of the calendar year in which this document is no longer valid. For example, there is a contract whose validity period expired on July 15, 2010. It is required to be stored for five years, but it can not be destroyed on July 15, 2015, but only with the beginning of 2016. That is, the deadline starts from 01.01.2011, and not from July of the previous year. As a rule, in order to minimize the number of errors, one year is added to the earlier deadline. And only after the contract has expired in the organization, the document can be destroyed.
Specifics of contract storage
As we have already said, there are special guidance documents that establish the rules and terms for the transfer to the archive and storage. Once again, we recall that the documentation should be stored in a dry, ventilated room with a certain temperature regime. Folders with documents should be located on closed or open racks. If necessary, the archive should have special safes for storing documents marked "commercial secret". Although no one checks the process of storing documents, the absence of certain files is easily detected during verification, so setting up a savings system properly is in the interests of the enterprise. So, the contract storage period in the organization has expired, and the document needs to be destroyed. How to do it right?
Destruction
It’s impossible to destroy documents just like that. First you need to make sure that their validity has passed. Only after this, destruction is possible, but there are pitfalls here that must be taken into account so as not to fall under the penalties of inspectors. The procedure looks approximately as follows. Employees make a selection of all documents whose deadline has already passed, then an inventory is made, a report is sent to the head, an act of destruction is drawn up, the document is signed by the chief and responsible persons. Then the folders are allocated for destruction.Keeping contracts and other documentation in the archive on an ongoing basis is meaningless, therefore, in order not to get bogged down in the documents, it is necessary to regularly carry out this procedure.
Responsibility and implementers
The main responsibility regarding everything that concerns the safety of all types of contracts and other documents of the organization lies, of course, with the head. It is he who is punished with the ruble when violations are discovered during inspections. Next on the list are the chief accountant, lawyer and the employee who is responsible for the safety of the documentation. But these persons, to the best of committed misconduct, are punished by the leader himself; he is the first to get it. In practice, in small companies, the control and storage system of contracts is assigned to the accounting department, and the accountant, in turn, appoints a specific person in charge. Sometimes the legal adviser of the organization is appointed as the person responsible for the safety of the documentation. But this is not very convenient, because a lawyer can only be responsible for contracts, and he is usually very superficially familiar with other papers. This process is easiest to establish if there is a specific person endowed with responsibility and authority. This ensures maximum accuracy and accuracy in handling documents.
Example of accounting and storage system
To better understand the features and shelf life of contracts in the organization, you can analyze the main points in a small example. There is an employee (usually an employee from accounting) who is responsible for keeping contracts with contractors. He files them in a separate folder where they are located during the validity period. When closing the contract, it is transferred to another folder. In this case, as a rule, an inventory or register is compiled, which contains a list of documents and allows you to track their movement. In addition, the storage period is noted there, after which they are subject to destruction. At the end of the regulatory period, documents are destroyed in accordance with the procedure already described.
The safety of organizational and administrative documentation of the company as a whole and contracts in particular requires a thoughtful, attentive and accurate attitude in order to avoid problems. Common to all enterprises and organizations is the principle of organizing storage in accordance with the law. This eliminates the use of penalties in the case of inspections. Internal documents (acts, inventories, registers, various types of contracts) in form may differ in different organizations, but this is not of fundamental importance.