Perform a cleanup

Ensure that sensitive information is removed and maintain the organization of your file by performing an engagement cleanup.

By performing a cleanup, you can remove the following information from the file:

  • Documents and attached issues (that are not set to retain on cleanup)
  • History and milestone events
  • All issues that are not attached to documents
  • All temporary (.tmp) or backup (.bak) files

You should perform a cleanup prior to a year end close to ensure that the next year file only contains necessary information.

Prerequisites:

To perform an engagement cleanup:

  1. In Working Papers, open the file that you want to clean.
  2. On the ribbon, click Engagement | Clean Up. The Engagement Cleanup Wizard displays.
  3. On the Welcome screen, select any items you want to retain. Note that history and milestones that are flagged to retain on cleanup are retained even if this option is not selected. Click Next.
  4. A summary of the items to delete displays. Click Finish.
  5. A confirmation dialog displays to inform you that deleted items are unrecoverable and will not be included when you roll forward the file. Click Yes to perform the cleanup.

The items that were not selected to retain are deleted from the file. You can now perform a year end close.

Retain on cleanup

You can configure which items you want to retain during an engagement cleanup from the Document Manager or Issues pane.

To retain documents or issues on cleanup:

  1. In the Document Manager or Issues pane, right-click the column heading and click Show | Retain on Cleanup.
  2. The Retain on Cleanup column displays. Select the items that you want to retain.

The selected documents and issues will be retained when performing an engagement cleanup.

You can also flag documents and issues for retention individually.

To retain individual documents or issues on cleanup:

  1. In the Document Manager or Issues pane, select the item you want to retain.
  2. On the ribbon, click Document | Properties.
  3. Select Retain on Cleanup. Click OK.

The document or issue will be retained when performing an engagement cleanup.

Filter by cleanup status

If you want to view all the documents in a file that will be retained or deleted after an engagement cleanup, you can apply a filter to the Document Manager.

To view Retain on Cleanup documents:

  • On the ribbon, click View | Filter by | Retained on Cleanup.

The documents to retain are displayed.

To view Delete on Cleanup documents:

  • On the ribbon, click View | Filter by | Deleted on Cleanup.

The documents to delete are displayed.