How many registers should your business have?

Action registers, risk registers, document registers—gathering dust on a cyber shelf in a long-forgotten folder, occupying storage space, and providing little to no business value. An all-too-common scene and painful reminder of wasted resources buried in the archives of your corporate history.

Registers exist to drive accountability, transparency, and action. But too often, they become administrative burdens—populated with outdated information, rarely reviewed, and disconnected from real decision-making. A well-maintained register can be a powerful tool, but a neglected one is just noise, adding complexity without benefit.

So, how many registers should your business have? The answer is simple: only as many as you can actively manage and use. If a register doesn’t help inform decisions, mitigate risks, or track meaningful progress, it’s not worth maintaining.

Some key principles-

✅ Keep only what adds value – If a register isn’t actively driving decisions, remove it.

✅ Automate and integrate – Where possible, use systems that track actions and risks in real time. Integrated control assurance as an example is a powerful business tool.

✅ Regularly review and challenge – Like any other document of business value, set a cadence to assess whether registers are still relevant and being used.

✅ Focus on core processes, not registers – A well-maintained process is more valuable than a forgotten spreadsheet.

A register should be a living, breathing tool—not a digital graveyard for good intentions. If yours aren’t adding value, it might be time to retire them.

Contact ⚡Virtus Advisory⚡ to learn more.