As the importance of IT, the Internet, SmartPhones, and email has grown, its
legal status has changed with far-reaching consequences. A variety of laws and
regulations have been extended to cover all business
records, including email and all communications in both public and private
sectors. Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) and other mandates requirements touch almost every
facet of paper and electronic data.


Among other provisions, SOX requires companies to maintain “all audit or
review work papers” for at least five years. For registered public accounting
firms, the period is at least seven years. Penalties for noncompliance include
severe fines and even imprisonment, and intentionally altering or destroying
records can bring even more serious consequences.


Consider that most work papers and records are created as emails and may
never exist in physical form. An email can be deleted in violation of SOX at the
click of a mouse. Key considerations for ensuring your company meets SOX
record-keeping requirements include:



  • Can employees reliably distinguish ordinary emails from protected business
    records?

  • Are you be certain that employees are  storing the protected emails
    for the required time period?

  • Is there a process in place for storing physical copies of every protected
    business records and emails?

  • Are  you certain that no one is hacking into your email system and
    maliciously changing records?

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