Most of you have certain valuables and important documents you want to keep safe. But what is the best way? From renting a safe-deposit box at your bank to using the cloud, there are tons of options. Choose the best one for you by reading this business bookkeeping guide to keeping important documents safe.

1. The Locked Filing Cabinet

As bookkeepers for both individuals and businesses, we have tons of hard copies of sensitive documents to safe guard. We have found that locking filing cabinets are the best way to keep these available but safe. In fact, we at B&J Bookkeeping and Taxes do a “quadruple lock” system. This includes

  1. Locking the file cabinet itself when not in use.
  2. Locking the office or storage space when not in use.
  3. We promptly lock up the office itself during non business hours and employ an alarm system.
  4. The office building itself uses locks and alarms during non business hours.

2. The Hidden Safe

Your office may have tons of places to hide a safe of all sizes. Check with your landlord, lease, or other professional to see where is a practical place to hide one. These safes can be any size from human to lunch box size. This wall safe currently has the highest rating on Amazon. It offers several locking options and a blaring alarm.

Did you know? The Federal Trade Commission reported over 1 million identity theft reports last year? Approximately another 2.6 million cases of related fraud were reported, and the total losses were over $12.7 billion. Source: Experian

3. The External Hard Drive

We all have important documents that will do as a digital copy or printed copy. Not everything needs a hard copy. Not to mention all of our photos, videos, and other files that are difficult to be kept as hard copies. The easy answer is to get an external hard drive, which you may want to keep in your safe. Not only can it keep your documents safe in one tiny, device – it can work as a backup to your devices should they crash, get hacked, or experience other catastrophic failure. The Toshiba Canvio Basics is currently the top external drive and offers a whopping 4GB of data and fast transfer speeds. No software needed and it has over 17,000 positive reviews.

4. The Cloud

Store your semi-sensitive documents in the cloud to get easy access to them on any device at any time. There are several services available from Google, to Apple, to others that offer varying available space, plans, and security. We don’t recommend storing highly sensitive documents here as data breaches can happen.

5. Safe Deposit Box

This is the best option for your most valued possessions. Your local bank most likely rents safe deposit boxes of all sizes. They are best for documents and items that would be difficult or impossible to replace and don’t need constant access. It is ideal for storing birth and death certificates, deeds to property, valuable jewelry, original contracts, and other important documents.

More on the Business Bookkeeping Guide to Keeping Important Documents Safe

Full disclosure, we used an affiliate link but would recommend these products regardless. Contact our office to learn more about how we can help keep your business safe and secure.