Proper recordkeeping is at the heart of every business. The ability to adequately manage information and documents is a crucial element in any business.

As shown below improper recordkeeping systems can leave a business open to both financial and reputation risk. Does your business have a proper recordkeeping system?

Alteration of Records

Breaches of Privacy

Breakdowns in Accountability

Catastrophes

Deliberate or Illegal Destruction of Records

Inadequate Corporate Recordkeeping Systems

Inappropriate Disposal of Records

Non-compliance

Operational and Organisational Failures

Inadequate Corporate Recordkeeping Systems

Australian National Audit Office (ANA0), release report on recordkeeping in large commonwealth organisations

In September 2006, the Australian National Audit Office (ANA0), release a report entitled Recordkeeping in Large Commonwealth Organisations based on an audit of record keeping practices in four commonwealth agencies: Centrelink; Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Dept of Family & Community Services and the Department of Health and Ageing.

The report concluded that failures in recordkeeping left these agencies exposed to the risk that important data would not be captured and that records might be released or disposed of without authorisation.

Source Australian National Audit Office Website September 2006

FBI Says Files In Leak Cases Are ‘Missing'

The FBI is missing nearly a quarter of its files relating to investigations of recent leaks of classified information, according to a court filing made by the bureau.

In response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, the FBI said it identified 94 leak investigations since 2001, but that the investigative files in 22 of those cases "are missing" and cannot be located. "There is no physical slip of paper on the shelf which indicates that the file has been charged out to a particular FBI employee, so therefore there is no way of knowing where the file may actually be," an official in the bureau's records division, Peggy Bellando, wrote in a December 22 declaration.

Source The New York Sun December 27, 2006

Poor record-keeping plagues Bush AIDS effort

President Bush’s ambitious AIDS-fighting program in poor countries has pushed so hard for fast results that basic record keeping and accountability often went by the wayside, making it hard to judge the true success, according to government audits and officials.

Source MSNBC Dec. 25, 2006

APSC State of the Service report links recordkeeping to organisational capability

The Australian Public Service Commission report on the State of the Service notes that record keeping has attracted substantial attention in recent years.

Although there has been an increase in the transparency of record keeping, a number of reports have raised concerns about its quantity and quality, notably from the ANAO...In part, this increased attention has arisen because record keeping in the APS has been affected by greater public scrutiny through administrative law reform and parliamentary oversight over the past few decades.

Source Australian Public Service Commission State of the Service Report November 30 2006

White House Doesn't Know Number of Missing E-Mails

The Bush administration said it doesn't know how many e-mails written by White House aides are missing and a presidential spokeswoman wouldn't rule out the possibility that 5 million messages are lost.

The controversy over missing e-mails escalated this week as White House aides acknowledged they couldn't account for some messages sought by congressional committees investigating the firing of eight U.S. attorneys. A congressional investigator also reported that messages by top political adviser, Karl Rove, and other presidential aides written on Republican Party e-mail accounts may have been destroyed.

Source Yahoo News Fri Apr 13

Bush's National Guard File Missing Records

Documents that should have been written to explain gaps in President Bush's Texas Air National Guard service are missing from the military records released about his service in 1972 and 1973, according to regulations and outside experts.

Source USA Today 9/6/2004

One giant loss for mankind: NASA loses moon tapes

700 boxes of space flight tapes including five original Apollo moon landings have been lost, Australian scientist John Sarkassian from the Parkes Observatory revealed in his recent report. Sarkassian said he requested the tapes from NASA only to be told they were missing.

Originally stored at Goddard, the tapes were moved in 1970 to the US National Archives. No one knows why, but in 1984 about 700 boxes of space flight tapes were then returned to Goddard.

A desperate search has begun with the only equipment able to decode the analogue tapes held at the Goddard Center, which is set to close in October 2006. Scientists now fear the tapes will disintegrate before they are found and transferred into digital format.

Source Sydney Morning Herald August 2006

Deleted criminal records remain active in County's US$53 million system

Records of hundreds of expunged criminal cases that should have been permanently destroyed by court order remain active in Dallas County's new computer system.

Discovered about 60 days after the Adult Information System was launched, officials say there is no easy way to find and delete the expunged records and staff are manually deleting them as they find them.

Atos Origin, in charge of the US$53 million task of handling the mainframe, had no comment.

Source Dallas News August 2006

Cemetery’s poor record keeping causes plot mix up

A family in Arkansas are being forced to rebury their father two months after the funeral as the Cemetery discovered they had already sold the plot to another family. The town mayor called the incident simply an oversight and said he was trying to make the matter as painless as possible for all family members involved, however the daughter of the deceased describes the move as devastating, disrespectful and anything but painless.

City officials state they are now keeping cemetery records on computer in hopes of preventing the same mistake from happening again.

Source The Hometown ChannelJuly 2006

US Drug Manufacturer pays US$950,000 for not keeping accurate records

New York drug manufacturer NBTY Inc. agreed to pay $950 000 after failing to obtain identification from customers to whom NBTY sold pseudoephedrine tablets. Pseudoephedrine tablets are legitimately used in small quantities as cold medication, however in larger quantities they can be used in the illicit manufacture of methamphetamine.

The court found on 385 occasions between January 1999 and May 2002 NBTY shipped large quantities of pseudoephedrine tablets to customers via mail orders, however failed to obtain proper records, making it impossible to track down, investigate, and prosecute methamphetamine manufacturers.

NBTY claims they co-operated with the Drug Enforcement Administration and publicly stated there was no valid basis for the claims asserted.

Source US Drug Enforcement Administration July 2004

Top 4 US Accounting Firms found to be poor record keepers

Initial investigation of America’s largest accounting firms reveal numerous rule violations and sloppy record keeping practices in a routine audit examination.

The report found Deloitte & Touche LLP, Ernst & Young LLP, KPMG LLP, and Price Waterhouse Coopers LLP negligent of obeying accounting rules and failing to preserve documents that backed up auditor’s work. However, Securities and Exchange Commission's chief accountant, Donald T. Nicolaisen, claims the inspections were conducted at a time when firms were adapting to a new regulatory regime. A full investigation has begun, and all firms have released statements welcoming Inspector’s forthcoming suggestions.

Source The Washington Post August 2004

Ansett record keeping failure

A transcript of an interview on AM on ABC Local Radio, September 19, 2001 in which Gary Toomey, chief executive of Ansett's parent company, Air New Zealand, defends the management of his company, in response to scathing comments by Mark Mentha, Ansett's new Administrator.  Mentha has said that the company's financial systems are disorganised, that there are no books and no records to tell where Ansett's billions have gone.

Source AM on ABC Local Radio - Archives

Hunt for missing $750m in Public Real Estate

An article in the Sydney Morning Herald on February 1 2002 reported on a performance audit of the Government Property Register (managed by the Office of Information Technology) undertaken by the Auditor-Generals office. The article revealed that an unknown quantity of properties had simply disappeared from official records. A recent audit had found little improvement in recordkeeping since 1998, when the government commission found that neither central records nor those of individual agencies were adequate.

Source Hunt for missing $750m in public real estate Sydney Morning Herald February 1 2002

More Information The Audit Office of NSW

Top 4 US Accounting Firms found to be poor record keepers

Initial investigation of America’s largest accounting firms reveal numerous rule violations and sloppy record keeping practices in a routine audit examination.

The report found Deloitte & Touche LLP, Ernst & Young LLP, KPMG LLP, and Price Waterhouse Coopers LLP negligent of obeying accounting rules and failing to preserve documents that backed up auditor’s work. However, Securities and Exchange Commission's chief accountant, Donald T. Nicolaisen, claims the inspections were conducted at a time when firms were adapting to a new regulatory regime. A full investigation has begun, and all firms have released statements welcoming Inspectors’ forthcoming suggestions.

Source The Washington Post August 2004

US Drug Manufacturer pays US$950,000 for not keeping accurate records

New York drug manufacturer, NBTY Inc. agreed to pay $950 000 after failing to obtain identification from customers to whom NBTY sold pseudoephedrine tablets. Pseudoephedrine tablets are legitimately used in small quantities as cold medication, however in larger quantities they are used in the illicit manufacture of methamphetamine.

The court found on 385 occasions between January 1999 and May 2002, NBTY shipped large quantities of pseudoephedrine tablets to customers via mail orders, however failed to obtain proper records, making it impossible to track down, investigate, and prosecute methamphetamine manufactures.

NBTY claims they co-operated with the Drug Enforcement Administration and publicly stated there was no valid basis for the claims asserted.

Source US Drug Enforcement Administration July 2004

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