Audit Trail

As transactions are entered into Sage Line 50 they are automatically assigned an audit trail number. The first is given the number 1, the second number 2 and so on. When transactions are cleared from the audit trail, the numbering is re-structured so that no numbers are missing, e.g. if transaction number 3 is removed then number 4 becomes number 3, 5 becomes number 4 and so on. You can use these audit trail numbers in Sage Line 50 to specify specific ranges of transactions for reporting purposes.

The net amount of the transaction (VAT not included).

This is a code identifying the type of transaction, where:
BR = Bank Receipt
BP = Bank Payment
CP = Cash Payment
CR = Cash Receipt
JD = Journal Debit
JC = Journal Credit
SI = Sales Invoice
SR = Sales Receipt
SC = Sales Credit Note
SD = Discount on Sales Receipt
SA = Sales Receipt on Account
PI = Purchase Invoice
PP = Purchase Payment
PC = Purchase Credit Notes
PD = Discount on Purchase Payment
PA = Purchase Payment on Account
VP = Credit Payments
VR = Credit Receipts

This shows any VAT portion of the transaction.

This column shows where appropriate the customer or supplier or bank account that was involved with the transaction. Journal transactions leave this column blank.

The VAT code rate that has been applied.

This is the nominal ledger account code that the transaction was posted to.

This displays either Yes (Y) or No (N) and indicates whether or not this transaction is fully paid (SI or PI), or is used for paying an invoice (SR or PP). Journal debits and credits (JD and JC) always display a Y in the Paid column.
If N is displayed then this transaction will not be cleared from the audit trail by the Period End option.

This is the number of the department the transaction was given.

If the transaction is fully paid, part paid or is a full or part payment the amount of the payment is shown here (including any VAT portion).

Any details entered for the transaction are shown here.
Cleared transactions of the same nominal code are grouped together and entered as one opening balance transaction which has the details, æOpening BalanceÆ displayed here.

This column shows whether or not a transaction has been reconciled with a bank account, where, Y = Yes, N = No or "-" = not applicable.
If N is displayed then this transactions will not be cleared from the audit trail by the Period End option.

If the transaction has been reconciled with the bank, the date the bank reconciliation took place appears in this column. If the transaction has not been reconciled, this column is left blank.

This column shows whether or not a transaction has been reconciled with a VAT return, where, Y = Yes, N = No or "-" = not applicable.
If N is displayed then this transaction will not be cleared from the audit trail by the Period End option.

The transaction reference.
Cleared transactions of the same nominal code are grouped together and entered as one opening balance transaction which has the details, æO/BALÆ displayed here.

The audit trail is where Sage Line 50 stores all of the transactions that you enter. The audit trail is so called because it is a complete record of your transaction activities and is often requested by auditors during their investigations. Use this option to regularly print out a listing of this audit trail for reference purposes (e.g. Monthly).

You can periodically clear down this audit trail which removes those transactions that have been fully reconciled with your banks, reconciled for VAT and where appropriate fully paid (e.g. invoices). But before you do æclear downÆ, we recommend you take a backup and print out a copy first.

Note: When you do clear transactions from the audit trail, the details are removed but the balances they contained are kept and carried forward as opening balances so that your financial reports are all still accurate and up-to-date.

Sage Line 50 can store up to 2,000,000,000 transactions in the audit trail (given enough computer memory and disk space) so you never actually need to clear down transactions from the audit trail if you do not want to. However, the more transactions you leave on the system the longer it will take for Sage Line 50 to sort through the list and calculate the values for its reports. The choice is yours, but will depend on just how many transactions you enter per month.

Each line of the audit trail represents one transaction and each line is made up of the following information about the transaction:

No	Net
Tp	Tax
Account	T/c
Nominal	Paid
Dept	Amount Paid
Details	Bank
Bank Rec Date	VAT
Ref