What Is an Audit Log and Why Your Business Needs One

"I never approved that." "It said a different amount yesterday." Without a record, these become one person's word against another's.

#What is an audit log?

A chronological record of important actions: **who** did **what**, **when**, and often **from where** — and, crucially, what the value was **before and after**.

#Why it matters

1. **Settles disputes** quickly with facts. 2. **Deters fraud** — people behave differently when actions are recorded. 3. **Supports audits** by accountants, investors or regulators. 4. **Helps debug mistakes** — find exactly when a setting changed.

#What a good audit log records

- Approvals, rejections and returns, with comments. - Changes to requests after submission. - Changes to workflows, roles and organisation settings. - Membership changes (who joined, left or changed role). - Timestamps and the person responsible.

#How Yapie Work does it

- **Approved requests are locked** — nobody quietly edits them afterwards. - **Administrative changes are logged** automatically. - Admins open **Work › Organisation › Audit log** to review the history. - **Status by person** shows each approver's decision on a request.

Separately, the platform's recovery vault keeps chat history (including edits and deletions), and access to it is itself logged.

#Good practice

- Limit admin rights to people who need them. - Review the audit log monthly, and after any dispute. - Export it with reports for your accountant.

#Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between an audit log and a backup?

A backup lets you restore data; an audit log records who changed what and when.

Can an audit log be edited?

Audit entries are written automatically and aren't editable in the app.

Where is the audit log in Yapie Work?

Admins find it under Work › Organisation › Audit log.