5 Ways To Audit Your QuickBooks Activity
QuickBooks automatically enables the Audit Trail feature, logging every change made to transactions. This can be crucial when you need to investigate who changed or deleted a transaction, find out when it was modified, or see how it looked before the change.
Expert Tip: ✅ Assign a separate user ID to each QuickBooks user for accountability. Go to Company > Set up Users and Passwords and follow the prompts.
Audit Trail Report
To view the Audit Trail:
- Go to: Reports > Accountant & Taxes > Audit Trail.
Figure 1: By default, the Audit Trail shows all activity for today.
2. Adjust Date Range: By default, it shows today’s date. Change it at the top.
3. Modify Report:
-
- Click Modify Report > Filters tab.
- Select Transaction Type > Multiple Transaction Types.
- Choose desired transaction types and click OK twice.
Figure 2: You can limit the Audit Report to certain transaction types.
Exporting and Analyzing the Audit Trail:
✅ To Excel: Click Export > A New Excel Workbook > Export.
✅ To CSV: Allows opening in programs like Excel.
✅ To PDF: Use File > Save As PDF. Copy and paste as needed, or use a search in a PDF viewer like Adobe Acrobat Reader.
If you choose to export the report to Excel, you’ll have some advanced filtering capabilities at your disposal:
- Excel 2007: Click on cell A1, and then press Shift-End-Home. This will select the entire workbook. You can then choose Sort & Filter from the Filtering section of the Home ribbon, and then select Filter. As shown in Figure 3, you can then click the arrow in cell J1 and choose which transactions to display:
- Latest means the most recent version of the transaction.
- Prior means the transaction has been edited. The Audit Trail shows both the latest and previous versions of the transaction.
- Deleted means the transaction has been deleted and must be manually reentered in QuickBooks if necessary.
- Earlier versions of Excel: Click on cell A1, press Shift-End-Home, and then choose Data, Filter, and then AutoFilter. You can then click any of the arrows in row 1 to filter the list to meet specific criteria.
Figure 3: Sending the report to Excel lets you filter for deleted or modified transactions.
Alternatively, you can press Ctrl-F and search for the words Prior or Deleted. Click the Find Next button to move to the next transaction as you carry out your review, as shown in Figure 4.
Figure 4: Excel’s Find feature is another way to sift through a lengthy Audit Trail report.
Fraud alert: Perpetrators often generate checks or invoices under one vendor or customer ID, and then modify the accounting records to obfuscate their deed. Always review transactions with a Prior label carefully.
Voided/Deleted Transactions Summary and Detail Reports
Deleted transactions can cause discrepancies during reconciliation.
- Go to: Reports > Accountant & Taxes.
- Choose: Either Voided/Deleted Transactions Summary or Detail Reports.
❗ Fraud Alert: Watch for checks or invoices under one vendor/customer ID that are later modified.
Figure 5: Double-click a transaction on the summary report to view its details.
Closing Date Exception Report
This report shows changes to transactions after a closing date is set.
- Set Closing Date: Edit > Preferences > Accounting > Company Preferences.
- Finally, click the Set Date/Password button, and then follow the onscreen prompts.
Report Access: Reports > Accountant & Taxes > Closing Date Exception Report.
Customer Credit Card Audit Log
For businesses storing customer credit card data, this log tracks all related activities:
- When credit card numbers are entered, displayed, edited, or deleted.
- Enable Logging: Company > Customer Credit Card Protection > Click Enable.
Figure 6: The Customer Credit Card Audit Log tracks all activity related to customer credit cards.