Use of Audit Trail in Zoho Books

Use of Audit Trail in Zoho Books

It was on March 24th, 2021 when the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, India released a notification that instructed companies to use accounting software that could show an audit trail of all transactions carried out. Essentially, this rule was applied so that the companies could maintain their books properly.

With the release of this notification, the accounting software that companies used was supposed to have the following things:

  1. An ability to record the audit trail of each transaction that was taking place.
  2. A feature to create and edit a log of all changes that happened in the books along with the date and use details.
  3. An ability to ensure that the audit trail feature was always enabled.
Going by this rule, Zoho Books released a fantastic new feature called the audit trail for all the users of India. This is a feature that is included in the Activity Reports module of the amazing Zoho Books software.

Details of New Software Requirements:

With this new rule of Companies (Accounts) Amendment Rules released by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, companies are prevented from correcting transactions and fixing errors. This is to prevent them from hiding any changes. The new requirement of showing an audit trail is a result of insights from previous investigations.

In the past, many companies fudged their books by consistently changing the transaction details. The main idea behind releasing the new feature of audit trails was to prevent this problem. The Companies (Accounts) Amendment Rules mandate that the companies record audit trails of all transactions. It also specifies that the accounting software creates an edit log of all changes that are made in the books. This rule was to prevent any accounting software from making changes in entries.

Even if the businesses have been using software with a weak audit trail facility, it was possible to make the transition. The effort involved comes down to how much data and complexity the current system can possibly handle. The process of shifting to an audit trail system can be done in different phases. Zoho Books is a business accounting software that comes with a built-in audit trail functionality that allows an auditor to confidently attest to the veracity of records.

All About Audit Trail Feature:

The audit trail feature of Zoho Books enables an organization to effectively monitor all activities that happen in the transactions. This way, it is possible to prevent any kind of transaction and fraud. You can maintain a log of all changes that are made to contact, purchase transactions, sales, settings, and even a journal.

So basically, Zoho Books comes with an Audit Trail that is a feature to find out how, when and who has modified a specific transaction. Anybody can access this feature in the activity logs. For doing this, the following steps can be taken:
  1. First, go to the modules called “Reports” from the left sidebar
  2. Click on the “Activity Logs” placed under the Activity section
  3. Now, click on the > Arrow mark placed on the right side of the activity that you wish to check.
In addition, you can also check what has changed by comparing two versions of a specific transaction. You can do this by taking the below-mentioned steps.
  1. Click “Compare” in the top right corner.
  2. Choose any two versions of the transactions that you would like to compare.
  3. Finally, click on “Compare”.
All the fields that were added, modified, or even deleted are going to be highlighted in the colors green, yellow and red.

The Efficiency of Audit Trail Feature:

Zoho Books maintains a log of all possible changes that are made to any record in the application. Some common changes can be sales or purchase of transactions, invoices or bills, journals, contact, or even a setting. Other than the kind of change that is being talked about, Zoho Books is also capable of saving the timestamp and details of all users who have taken an action.

To sum this up, the feature of Audit Trail in Zoho Books offers details on “when”, “where”, “who”, and “what.”

  1. You can know the date and time on which an action was taken.
  2. You can also know the module under which an action was performed. This can include invoices, bank feeds, bills, or expenses. Actions performed under any module can be seen.
  3. You can also get a description of the action performed like creating an invoice, updating the contents of a bill, editing items on an invoice.
  4. Finally, you can also know the user who performed the action. In case a record is changed many times, the audit trail shows each version that has been created, not just the recent one. The user can also compare many versions and track data that has been added, removed, and modified.
Conclusion:
​
It was only with a positive and progressive intention that the Indian government made this rule of enforcing an audit trail for the transactions that get recorded in the accounting software. Therefore, Zoho Books made sure that the necessary steps were taken to further ensure the implementation of an “Audit Trail” feature that could curb transactional frauds.

Zoho Books is a software that enables organizations to stay compliant with the rules introduced by the government so that any unrecorded transactions can be prevented. It must be noted that although using Audit Trail is important, it is entirely on the companies to choose the right software that can offer this capability.
Hence, if you run a company that uses accounting software, make sure that you use software that is empowered with a feature of audit trail such as Zoho Books.


I hope that you learned something new
Follow me for more such posts!

Cheers!
Abhi
(Seasoned Zoho Authorized and Certified Partner)

Feel free to contact me if you have any queries
Email: abhishek(@)encaptechno(dot)com
Call: +1-416-405-8185

    Nederlandse Hulpbronnen


      • Recent Topics

      • Can't join canal Developers Zoho User

        Hello, I received an invitation to join this channel, but I get an error when I try to join it, and I get the same error when I go to the Zoho Cliq interface > Search for a channel. Is this because I don't have a license linked to this email address?

      • Desk Email reply - set default font / use custom font

        Hello, in our e-mails, which we send to our customers, a certain font must be used (Corporate Design): Segoe UI https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segoe#Segoe_UI How can this be included? How can this be set as the default font to ensure that this font is

      • Is there a way to set Document Owner/Sender via the API

        When sending requests for zoho sign, it would seem zoho uses the id of the person that created the zoho api cred to determine the owner_id, is there a way to set a default for this?

      • Zoho CRM's custom views are now deployable from sandboxes

        This feature is now available for users in the AU, JP, and CN DCs. New update: This feature is now available for users in CA and SA DCs. Hello everyone, We're excited to announce that you can now deploy custom views from sandboxes to your production environment

      • Zoho Devops

        We have a Zoho one account which we have integrated with an SAS educational product, sold on a subscription model, using webhooks and API calls. We make some use of custom fields and cross module lookups and relationships. We utilize CRM, Books and billing

      • Generate a link for Zoho Sign we can copy and use in a separate email

        Please consider adding functionality that would all a user to copy a reminder link so that we can include it in a personalized email instead of sending a Zoho reminder. Or, allow us to customize the reminder email. Use Case: We have clients we need to

      • Track Zoho Campaign and Workflow sales impact

        I am attempting to measure the performance of our marketing workflows and campaigns by comparing the date each campaign was sent to a contact with the purchase date of the contact. For example, if Contact A was sent Email A on 9/1 and made a purchase

      • Settings Icon No Longer in ZOHO Desk?

        In ZOHO desk, there has been a gear icon for settings. as of yesterday, it is no longer there. I showed up briefly this morning but is gone again. Anybody else experiecing this?

      • How to display historical ticket information of the total time spent in each status

        Hi All, Hoping someone can help me, as I am new to Zoho Analytics, and I am a little stuck. I am looking to create a bar chart that looks back over tickets raised in the previous month and displays how much time was spent in each status (With Customer,

      • Introducing the all-new email parser!

        Greetings, We are pleased to introduce to you, a brand-new, upgraded version of the Zoho CRM Email Parser, which is packed with fresh features and has been completely redesigned to meet latest customers needs and their business requirements. On that note,

      • Tables for Europe Datacenter customers?

        It's been over a year now for the launch of Zoho Tables - and still not available für EU DC customers. When will it be available?

      • Tip #43 - Track, Review, and Analyze Your Assist Sessions with Reports-'Insider Insights'

        Did you know you can generate detailed reports for both remote support sessions and unattended access sessions in Zoho Assist? This makes it easy to monitor technician activity, measure efficiency, and review customer interactions. Let us now take a closer

      • Cannot access KB within Help Center

        Im working with my boss to customize our knowledge base, but for some reason I can see the KB tab, and see the KB categories, but I cannot access the articles within the KB. We have been troubleshooting for weeks, and we have all permissions set up, customers

      • Kaizen #190 - Queries in Custom Related Lists

        Hello everyone! Welcome back to another week of Kaizen! This week, we will discuss yet another interesting enhancement to Queries. As you all know, Queries allow you to dynamically retrieve data from CRM as well as third-party services directly within

      • Search in module lists has detiorated

        Every module has a problem with the search function :-/

      • Can we generate APK and IOS app?

        Dears, I want to know the availability to develop the app on zoho and after that .. generate the APK or IOS app  and after that I added them to play store or IOS store.. Is it possible to do this .. I want not to use zoho app or let my customers use it. thanks 

      • Default Sorting on Related Lists

        Is it possible to set the default sorting options on the related lists. For example on the Contact Details view I have related lists for activities, emails, products cases, notes etc... currently: Activities 'created date' newest first Emails - 'created

      • Simplified Call Logging

        Our organization would like to start logging calls in our CRM; however, with 13 fields that can't be removed, our team is finding it extremely cumbersome. For our use case, we only need to record that a call happened theirfor would only need the following

      • Sub form doesn't as formula field

        Is it possible to get formula field in sub form in futures?

      • Automation #15: Automatically Adding Static Secondary Contacts

        Rockel is a top-tier client of Zylker traders. Marcus handles communications with Rockel and would like to add Terence, the CTO of Zylker traders to the email conversations. In this case, the emails coming from user address rockel.com should have Terence

      • Signup forms behaviour : Same email & multiple submissions

        My use case is that I have a signup form (FormA) that I use in several places on my website, with a hidden field so I can see where the contact has been made from. I also have a couple of other signup forms (FormB and FormC) that slight differences. All

      • Nimble enhancements to WhatsApp for Business integration in Zoho CRM: Enjoy context and clarity in business messaging

        Dear Customers, We hope you're well! WhatsApp for business is a renowned business messaging platform that takes your business closer to your customers; it gives your business the power of personalized outreach. Using the WhatsApp for Business integration

      • How can I track which zoho users are actively using Zoho CRM

        I have several licenses of Zoho CRM. We now need to add a new user. I could purchase a new license, but before I do, I would like to see if any of our existing users are not actively using the license assigned to them. How can I determine the activity

      • Week date range in pivot table

        Hello, I need to create a report that breakouts the data by week.  I am using the pivot table report, and breaking out the date by week, however the date is displayed as 'Week 1 2014' format.  Is there anyway to get the actual dates in there? ex. 1/6/2014-1/12/2014 Thanks,

      • How do I get Status History data of my Projects?

        I want to build a table in Zoho Analytics that Groups by Date, when Projects entered a certain status. I cannot find Status History or any such useful data available in the Setup of my Data Source sync. Please advise how I can achieve this?

      • Is it possible to hide fields in a Subform?

        Since layout rules cannot be used with Subforms, is there another way, or is it even possible, to hide fields in a subform based on a picklist fields within said subform? For example, if the Service Provided is Internet, then I do not want to see the

      • Single Task Report

        I'd like a report or a way to print to PDF the task detail page. I'd like at least the Task Information section but I'd also like to see the Activity Stream, Status Timeline and Comments. I'd like to export the record and save it as a PDF. I'd like the

      • RingCentral/Zoho CRM integration

        Hi I would like to know if our RingCentral/Zoho CRM integration will record incoming calls from clients to my mobile number. I have both Ringcenral and Zoho CRM apps on my iPhone. I know it records the outgoing calls I make and shows them in Zoho CRM

      • Weekly Tips :Instantly find what you need with Attachment Viewer

        Your inbox must be packed with project emails, shared notes, and scattered attachments. You are looking for one specific file—a presentation slide or maybe a media clip from a team update—but don’t want to dig through endless email threads or switch between

      • Has Zoho changed the way it searches Items?

        Right now all of our searches have broken and we can no longer search using the SKU or alias. It was fine last night and we came in this morning to broken.....this is impacting our operations now.

      • Missing Zoho Desk integration option for form workflows

        According to the help page "Configure Zoho Desk integration in form workflows" we should be able to select Zoho Desk as an integration target but when I open the integrations list then Zoho Desk is not being listed in it. We are on the Premium plan which should already support Zoho Desk integrations.

      • Search in module lists has detiorated

        Every module has a problem with the search function :-/

      • CRM x WorkDrive: File storage for new CRM signups is now powered by WorkDrive

        Availability Editions: All DCs: All Release plan: Released for new signups in all DCs. It will be enabled for existing users in a phased manner in the upcoming months. Help documentation: Documents in Zoho CRM Manage folders in Documents tab Manage files

      • Gantt for 2 or more projects

        Hello, I'm trying the free version of your produtc. It is veryyy good!!!! I don't know if in the Standard plan, I can overview a Gantt Graph for 2 or more Projects Milestone. This would be very helpfull for managing teams and taking decisions about who I will assign a task to. In the paid plan Do I have this possibility? Thank you.

      • Integrating a Zoho Project Gantt Chart into Reports

        Is is possible to integrate a Zoho Project Gantt Chart into a Zoho Report Dashboard. I am in the process of creating Project Status Dashboards for the projects that we track in Zoho Projects and I would like to incorporate the gantt chart within Reports.  Please let me know! Thanks

      • ZOHO BOOKS - EXCESSIVELY SLOW TODAY

        Dear Zoho Books This is not the first time but it seems to be 3 times per week now that the system is extremely slow. I work on Zoho Books 95% of my day so this is very frustrating. Zoho you need to do something about this. I have had my IT guy check

      • Gantt Chart - Zoho Analytics

        Are there any plans to add Gantt Charts capabilities to Zoho Analytics?

      • Displaying related quotes in sales order and back

        Hi, My colleague liked to see to which sales orders, the quote has been converted. Quote shows Invoices, but not SO. Same, they would like to see the quotes in the sales order, as they can see invoices, packages, shipment, How can we achieve this ? Thank

      • Tip of the Week #71–Auto-move incoming messages to the right inboxes with keywords

        We all know that customer-facing teams, especially your sales and support teams, can’t afford to miss even a single customer conversation. But sometimes, sales queries or support requests can easily get lost in a crowded inbox or even end up in the wrong

      • Clearing Fields using MACROS?

        How would I go about clearing a follow-up field date from my deals? Currently I cannot set the new value as an empty box.

      • Next Page