Disaster Recovery Plans: Better late than never

For this month's installment in The CPA Journal Millennium Series to focus on disaster recovery is doubly appropriate: It marks the end of the series, and the events of September 11 are history-defining in ways that make even major business disasters (such as those prophesied for Y2K) seem insignificant.

Although disaster recovery and business interruption planning is nothing new, many businesses are paying attention to this issue for the first time. And that's a good thing: According to author Stanley Weiner, studies show that 90% of companies with no disaster-recovery plan go out of business within two years of a catastrophic loss.

Weiner presents a no-nonsense roadmap for organizing a crisis management team, identifying points of exposure, and developing procedures for managing a crisis. Ideally, a business will never need to implement the plan, but the confidence and peace of mind that come from being prepared outweigh the cost and effort that developing a recovery plan requires. The opportunity to get it right the next time may not exist.

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