Retention of Results of Peer Testing 1886



  • Hello All,
    I am a Sarbanes-Oxley Co-ordinator of a Canadian Subsidiary of a US Public Company. 2006 will be our second fully completed year of SOX Peer Testing and audit by external auditors.
    My question is this, is there an established time period for retaining results of peer testing, including:

    • sample size methodology
    • completed testing templates
    • copies of original documentation supporting testing templates.
      We accumulate about 25 2-inch binders annually. I have retained 2004, 2005 and 2006 binders at this point.
      I researched this topic here but found only comments back in 2005 and therefore am re-issuing the question.
      Thank-you in advance.


  • Our company has determined that all material used for testing should be retained for 7 years. We have substantially decreased our use of binders by scanning our testing into our testing database.



  • By the way, welcome to the forum.
    Hope my comments help.
    J



  • I was figuring that 7 yrs was probably the recommended time period. That is standard imposed by CRA (Canada Revenue Agency) for the purposes of retaining taxation documentation.
    Scanning looks like the way to go. We have approximately 220 key controls here and I maintain the peer testing documentation to a reperformance standard for US internal audit and for external audit.



  • Hi and Welcome to the forums 🙂
    Seven years seems to be a safest timeframe as this is how long email history must be maintained. 7 years offers consistency.
    In one link captured below it appears that at least 5 years are required . If you’re saving 5 years of history, a couple of more years certainly won’t hurt.
    I definitely agree with Jason on imaging these electronically (for space savings and DR type backup capabilities).
    Please add www and paste to browser
    google.com/search?hl=en-and-q=SOX retention period
    No www is needed on link below and paste to browser
    searchcio.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,290660,sid19_gci920030,00.html
    The second rule defines the retention period for records storage. Best practices indicate that corporations securely store all business records using the same guidelines set for public accountants.
    Sec. 802(a)(1) 'Any accountant who conducts an audit of an issuer of securities to which section 10A(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C 78j-1(a)) applies, shall maintain all audit or review workpapers for a period of 5 years from the end of the fiscal period in which the audit or review was concluded. ’



  • Thanks for the responses.


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