Local government concerned over file destruction

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

From time to time, many organization leaders find that they must destroy documents that have expired or are no longer relevant. However, mistakes can be made and information can be lost that remains crucial to business operation. If there are no backups in electronic document management systems, this data might be lost forever.

This is the current situation in Pennsylvania, where The Tribune-Review reported that numerous business leaders are attempting to petition a judge to order a stop on the willful destruction of tax files. The news outlet explained that employees at a Bridgeville tax collection company have been destroying documents after the corporation went out of business.

However, if this information is lost, the Central Tax Bureau of Pennsylvania director of finance for Penn, Linda Iams, told the newspaper, the state government may never know what taxes were collected by the firm and which weren't. 

"I would take a guess that those records are very important to us, to make sure everybody has paid," Iams noted.

These sorts of systems can be put to good use at other institutions and businesses, as computer databases can help free up office space, ensure more diligent protections and save costs over the years by eliminating hardware and maintenance fees.

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