Managing E-Mail

Source: The CPA Journal

There can be legal and credibility consequences from your inability to retrieve certain e-mails. Official e-mail records should be maintained on an approved e-mail management system. It is better to decide which e-mails should be retained. Deleting all e-mails after a specified period can be dangerous.

After establishing a policy, employees should be trained and given the tools to archive the appropriate e-mails.

Backup tapes, while necessary for other purposes, do not provide the retrievable capability needed. E-mails should be stored in a digital archive, with tools available for organizing, retaining, and searching.

Don’t assume your content management system will be sufficient for the purpose of archiving e-mail. It may need to be upgraded. Moreover, a separate e-mail management solution may be more effective.

Policies that apply to the retention of paper records may have to be modified for e-mail records.

Attorneys refer to e-mail as “evidence mail.” The rash of accounting problems, especially those resulting from document destruction, is leading to stricter enforcement of regulations and stiffer penalties.

From The CPA Journal, July 2005. For the complete article, click on the following link: http://www.nysscpa.org/cpajournal/2005/705/perspectives/p14.htm.