Audit & Control · simplicityERP

Immutable Audit Trail

Every posting in simplicityERP writes its own audit trail record. From any account in the Control Panel you can drill down to the transactions, to the postings, and finally to the permanent record that shows exactly what was captured, when, and by whom.

Follow the drill-down Why it matters

2 transaction databases 1 audit record per posting Immutable detail record

Architecture

Two transaction databases. One discipline.

simplicityERP keeps its financial activity in two dedicated transaction databases. Both follow exactly the same rule: nothing is posted without an audit trail record behind it.

Transaction database 1

All modules except Payroll

Accounting, supply chain and every other operational module post into one shared transaction database, so a ledger balance and the documents behind it always come from the same source.

Every module posts to one place
An audit trail record for every posting

Transaction database 2

Payroll

Payroll has a transaction database of its own, keeping sensitive employee pay data separate from day-to-day operations while following the same posting and audit trail rules.

Payroll data kept separate
Same audit trail rules apply

How posting works

From transaction to audit record, every time

Posting isn't a black box. Every transaction follows the same three steps.

STEP 01

Transaction

A transaction is captured in any module, such as a bank statement entry for bank charges.

STEP 02

Posting

Every transaction is posted to the transaction database, debiting and crediting the accounts involved.

STEP 03

Audit trail record

An audit trail record is added for every posting, permanently recording what was posted, when and by whom.

The drill-down journey

From a ledger balance to the original record in four steps

Follow one real example in the Simplicity Accounting Control Panel: the Bank Charges account, traced all the way back to its audit record.

Step 1 · Account

Start with the account

Open ledger 0100 Bank Charges to see its monthly amounts for the year, with direct links to the Trial Balance, Income Statement and Budget Variance reports. The year total is 329.24.

Drill into the transactions

Step 2 · Transactions

See every transaction behind the balance

The Allocations tab lists every Bank Charges transaction with its date, transaction number, contra account (0100-BankBalance), debit and running balance. Click a source transaction to go deeper.

Click on the source transaction

Step 3 · Postings

View the postings and their audit trail

Audit No 10001 for transaction 0638 101000001 shows both sides of the entry: a credit of 105.00 to BankBalance and a debit of 105.00 to BankCharges, each linked to audit trail 1/0001.

Open the audit record

Step 4 · Audit record

Reach the immutable audit record

Audit Record Maintenance places the detailed audit record side by side with the posted transaction: batch 3800, debit and contra accounts, amounts, allocation, trading and due dates, the capture timestamp 2015/01/22 16:29:27, user SHO, station FG4STATION and source B = Bank Statement.

Captured once, kept permanently

Immutability & compliance

A record you can stand behind

Auditors, financial managers and owners get the same answer to the same question: where did this number come from? The audit trail answers it with evidence, not explanations.

The detailed audit trail record is immutable once written.

An audit trail record is added for every single posting.

The user, workstation, capture date and time are recorded.

Every balance traces back to its transactions and postings.

The audit record and posted transaction can be compared side by side.

The same audit discipline applies in both transaction databases, including Payroll.