First let me say I am so thankful for this site and the help to be found here. Hopefully I will someday be able to help answer a few questions rather than just ask them.
I am a stickler for UNDERSTANDING what I am doing and not just doing it. I also need rules rather than hunches. It is a sickness
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It seems that no one is sure of this answer and that they deduce that the MLS printouts should be kept because of standard record keeping guidelines. I understand that financial records (receipts, signed deposits, signed check authorizations) would have to be kept for the mandated 3 years. As I understand it however, MLS printouts only reflect what is electronically maintained in: our local PC, on disk back-up, and in SLC, UT. If you do not keep the printed copy, you are still complying with record retention because you have several electronic copies. I maintain my income tax filings electronically. In fact the MLS actually gives you the option to print it or just view the transaction. How can you be mandated to keep a printed copy that you are not even mandated to print in the first place?
I can certainly understand printing these merely for easy verification during an audit, but I see no point beyond that time frame. I have no clue how you would even file these so you could reference them (chronologically, alphabetically by member name). Maintaining a printout of a membership record as long as the member is in the Ward, defeats the entire point of setting up an electronic record system.
I have to believe that the need to printout (or not), and to maintain the MLS printouts must be clearly, directly, and specifically addressed in some instructions.
I guess I am hoping for a clear church rule rather than hunches or opinions. If not I guess I will have to assemble all opinions, add my own, and fly.
Thanks for the patience
Barry