An audit trail is a step-by-step record by which accounting or trade data can be traced to its source. Audit trails are used to verify and track many types of transactions including accounting transactions and trades in brokerage accounts.
Each record in an audit trail includes information about what the event was, who created the event, and the day/time the event happened. Events can include things like purchases, sales, and expenses.
An audit trail should include sufficient information to establish what events occurred and who (or what) caused them. In general, an event record should specify when the event occurred, the user ID associated with the event, the program or command used to initiate the event, and the result.
