How long an accountancy practice keeps client files, working papers, AML records, payroll, client money, complaints, staff and practice records – with a retention schedule, legal hold, return of client records and secure destruction log.
Accountancy practice – compliance & management
Records Retention and Destruction Policy for Accountancy Practices
About this document
A retention policy and schedule for the records an accountancy or bookkeeping practice holds. It balances legal minimums (such as the five-year period for anti-money laundering records, after which personal data must normally be deleted), limitation periods for claims, professional body expectations and data protection principles that personal data must not be kept for longer than necessary.
The document is laid out in the sections below. Each one comes with a plain-English guidance note explaining what it does and what to change.
Our templates are professionally structured starting points for UK businesses, not legal advice. For anything complex, unusual or high-value, have your final version checked by a solicitor.
Included in the pack
Accountancy practice – compliance & management
for every document in this category
Editable Microsoft Word files
Guidance notes in every document
Written for UK businesses
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