Digital preservation of accounting documents, besides being mandatory, offers a range of practical benefits — including easier access, greater security, simplified regulatory compliance and a contribution to sustainability — that make this practice important for many organizations.
The regulation
The regulation governing the digital preservation of accounting ledgers (books, registers, records and documentation) has been amended. Specifically, the rule governing a company’s ability to keep books and accounting records using computerized systems, as an alternative to traditional paper media, has been changed.
The current text of the regulation reads as follows:
“Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 4-ter, the keeping and preservation of any accounting ledger using electronic systems on any medium shall, in any case, be considered compliant even in the absence of transcription onto paper media within the statutory deadlines or of digital substitute preservation under the code referred to in Legislative Decree No. 82 of 7 March 2005, provided that, at the time of access, inspection or verification, the records are found to be up to date on the aforementioned electronic systems and are printed out at the request of the proceeding authorities and in their presence.”
What must be preserved, and how
It should be noted, in order to maintain legal compliance, that the Italian Civil Code requires companies to keep and preserve accounting ledgers, with the introduction of the possibility of doing so electronically. Moreover, ledgers must be preserved for ten years from the date of the last entry and may be preserved in the form of image-based records, provided that the records correspond to the original documents and can be made legible at any time.
Secondly, it is worth highlighting digital preservation’s ability to guarantee the integrity and authenticity of the ledgers, so that they can, if necessary, be effectively presented in court to protect the company that produced them. As a result, a business owner who has subjected their accounting records to a proper preservation process will be able to submit those documents in court, having given them attributes that guarantee the evidentiary value of the data and facts recorded within them that are relevant to the proceedings.
What we at Adawen do for you
We provide certified consulting services covering archiving, compliant digital preservation, and the drafting of the digital preservation manual, which — as a reminder — has become mandatory.
Archiving Consulting: This service includes specialist consulting days aimed at defining in detail which documents simply need to be archived digitally versus which need to be digitally preserved (in compliance with regulations), also as a preparatory step for subsequently drafting the digital preservation manual.
Digital Preservation Manual: collection of the information needed to compile the manual, both in terms of drafting it and delivering it to the client along with the sharing of the data it contains.
Review: specialist consulting aimed at updating the client’s digital preservation manual whenever regulatory changes occur, changes to the preservation process adopted by the company, or changes to operational functionality.
Specialized support providing answers on topics related to compliant electronic preservation and digital/electronic signature services, and in particular on the regulatory issues and rules that govern them.
Request more information