Method Two of Three:
Creating an Accounting Audit Trail
1
Determine whether your business has a sufficient accounting audit trail. An accounting audit trail consists of the paper and electronic sources that document the history of a business's transactions. Audit trails are used to trace a business's financial data from the general ledger to the source of the transaction/funds. A strong audit trail provides a comprehensive chronological list documenting the steps taken to commence and complete transactions.[7]
Determine if your existing accounting practices enable you to track the complete process of a financial transaction with documentation. If not, your accounting processes must be strengthened in order to create a sufficient accounting audit trail. For example, if you are purchasing goods from a supplier, locate the documentation associated with the transaction (like an invoice), locate the transaction in the appropriate account (like the expense or accounts payable account), and identify what kind of transaction it was (buying goods from a supplier).
Employ accounting software to create an electronic accounting audit trail for your business. Using accounting software to log your business’s financial activities will allow you to easily store and analyze accounting data with ease.