Which of the following principles requires that a company must keep files or records for a prescribed period of time before it disposes of those files or records?

Data verification involves the process of checking the accuracy and completeness of data. It ensures that the data is correct and valid but does not dictate how long records should be kept. Therefore, it does not relate to the prescribed duration for maintaining files before disposal.

Data backups refer to the copies of data created to protect against loss or corruption. While backups are essential for data recovery, they do not establish a requirement for how long original files must be retained before they can be disposed of. Thus, this principle does not address the retention period.

Data archiving is the process of moving infrequently accessed data to a separate storage location for long-term retention. However, archiving does not enforce a mandatory time frame for retaining files before disposal; it simply organizes data for future reference. Therefore, it does not directly answer the question regarding the prescribed retention period.