Many firms do not have anything like a document destruction policy, and even when they do they are not clear on how or when things will be discarded.

FORBES: Of Indian Summer, Shredders, and Trash Pulls

The result is -- document destruction -- we're really not going to be able to prove beyond a truth the negatives and some of the positive conclusions that we're going to come to.

CNN: Transcript: David Kay at Senate hearing

Andersen had said it was following routine document-destruction guidelines.

FORBES: Magazine Article

Since a felony conviction may result in a manager being statutorily barred from managing a mutual fund under the Investment Company Act, the federal statute that regulates mutual funds, certain fund complexes have engaged in fraudulent document creation and destruction to conceal illegalities.

FORBES: 2003: A Year of Awakening (December 3, 2003 )

The title of the new report from the International Crisis Group is Zimbabwe's Continuing Self-Destruction, and the title pretty much sums up the 20-page document.

NPR: Report Describes a Zimbabwe in Crisis