A Business Central audit trail your auditors can follow

What the Business Central audit trail records by default

Every posting creates ledger entries. Each one carries a user ID, a posting date, a document number and a source code that shows where the entry came from. Registers group the entries. So you can open a G/L register and see exactly what one posting run produced.

Posted documents stay as separate records. Staff fix mistakes with reversing entries or credit memos, not edits. That leaves both the error and its correction in view. The Find Entries action on a posted document lists every related entry across ledgers. It is usually the first thing an auditor asks to see.

Extending the Business Central audit trail with the change log

Ledger entries cover transactions, not master data or setup. For those, the change log records the old value, the new value, the user and the time. It does so whenever a chosen field is inserted, modified or deleted. You switch it on in Change Log Setup, table by table and field by field.

For the most sensitive fields, there is a second tool. Field monitoring sends an email when a monitored field changes. A vendor bank account number is a good example. So is a posting setup account. Together, the two tools give you a full history plus a prompt alert.

When a company needs a stronger audit trail

The request often follows an external audit or a lender's rule. It may also come with preparation for a sale of the business. Or an incident prompts it, such as a payment sent to a changed bank account. Growing finance teams also reach a point where one person can no longer see everything.

A common finding is that nobody configured anything at go-live. The change log is off, and many users hold broad permissions. Posting periods are open wider than they should be. None of that is hard to fix. But each change touches daily work, so we plan it with the people affected.

How we set up the Business Central audit trail

We start by listing the questions that an auditor or owner would ask. Then we check whether the system can answer each one today. The gaps become a short work list. It names fields to log and fields to monitor. It also lists permission sets to tighten, posting date ranges to narrow per user and approval workflows to add.

We keep logging deliberate. Recording every field on busy tables fills the log with noise and can slow posting. So we pick the fields that matter and leave high-volume transaction tables alone. We apply changes in a sandbox first. Real users try them. Then we move them to your live company with a written record of what we switched on.

What you can show an auditor afterward

You receive a controls document. It names each control and says where it lives in Business Central. It also shows how to produce evidence for it. That might be a filtered view of change log entries, a permission report per user or the approval history on a payment journal.

We also set up housekeeping. You can remove old change log entries on a schedule once they pass the age your policy sets. Someone on your team learns how to read the log. They also learn how to add a field when a new risk appears.

Business Central audit trail questions

Can posted entries be deleted or edited in Business Central?

No. Nobody can change or remove posted ledger entries through normal use. Staff correct them by posting a reversal, a credit memo or a correcting entry. So the original and the fix both remain. A few descriptive fields can be edited, and the change log can record those edits. We confirm which ones apply to your setup and log the sensitive ones.

Is the change log switched on by default?

No. You must activate the change log in Change Log Setup. Then you configure it per table and field. Microsoft tracks a small number of system-level tables in any case. But your vendor, customer, bank and setup tables are logged only after you choose them. So the first step is a clear list of the fields that matter to you.

Does logging slow the system down?

It can, if you apply it too widely. Each logged change writes an extra record. Logging chosen fields on master data and setup tables has little noticeable effect. We avoid logging ledger entry and document line tables. They already carry their own history. So users keep working at the same speed as before.

How does the Business Central audit trail show who changed a vendor's bank account?

First, turn on the change log for the vendor bank account table. Then open Change Log Entries and filter by table and field. Each line shows the old value, the new value, the user and the time. Field monitoring adds an email alert when the change is made. That way, you learn about it the same day.

Can users be limited to certain posting dates?

Yes. General Ledger Setup holds the allowed posting range for everyone. User Setup can give individual users a narrower or wider range. This is a simple control that stops entries from landing in a closed period. It is one of the first we check in any Business Central audit trail, because it takes little effort and helps a lot.

Related control and finance services

Audit readiness overlaps with system health, permissions and the way finance is set up. These pages describe the work that most often goes with a controls project. If you want a clear Business Central audit trail before your next audit, the contact page is the place to start. For the product detail, see Auditing changes in Business Central on Microsoft Learn.