Financial data in your business is critical. However, problems will arise when accounts data corruption or integrity errors lie undiscovered for extended periods.
You probably go to great lengths to make sure that it remains confidential, with back-ups so that you can get it back if disaster strikes. But when did you last check the integrity of your accounts data? A day, a week, a month, a year ago? Or have you never checked your data at all?
Run regular data integrity checks
Most accounting packages, such as Sage and Quickbooks, include tools to check the integrity of data and we recommend these are run regularly at least once a week.
Avoid accounting data integrity errors and corruption
Failure to run these tools against your accounts data can leave you vulnerable to data errors, which can be costly and time-consuming to repair, especially if data needs to go away to Sage or whoever provides your accounting system.
The problem is often made worse when data corruption or integrity errors lie undiscovered for extended periods. If you have a backup system with drives (or tapes) that you rotate and your oldest back-up is a week ago, then you might be at a higher risk.
How to avoid accounts data corruption
Here are two ways to avoid accounts data corruption and protect your business against the risk of data corruption:
- Run the data integrity check within your accounting package regularly.
- Take back-ups from within the accounting package too. Don’t rely on server back-ups alone, as these may not go back far enough if you run into a serious problem.
Book-keep weekly tasks
Have your main book-keeper schedule these tasks at least weekly – daily would be even better! It may seem a time-consuming task at the time but it’s better than losing out on time and money if your data becomes corrupted.
Keep an eye out on our Learning Centre for more guides on how to protect your data and much more surrounding your cybersecurity.
Want to know more?
We can provide you with business advice when it comes to cyber-security. Everybody now has something of value to hackers so you have to make sure that you’re protected. Contact us today and we can provide a technology assessment for you.
