Review and evidence

Review is tied to an accounting document and its source revision. The decision records who reviewed it, when, the decision and the reason. An Accounting Reviewer can approve, reject or return a document revision. The reviewer must examine the source and its evidence independently of the Accounting Preparer who submitted it. This gives an Auditor a usable trail from the document to the person and version behind the decision.

Attachments keep the receipt or other support with the document. Each attachment has a title, evidence type, upload date, visibility and uploader. Use these details to make the review packet understandable months later. A title such as the purchase receipt is more useful than an unexplained file name. Internal and Shared visibility should reflect who needs to see the material during review.

• Assemble evidence. The Accounting Preparer attaches the supporting file to the source document before requesting review.
• Record the decision. The Accounting Reviewer checks the current revision and records Approve, Reject or Return with a reason.
• Inspect action outcomes. Operation receipts show whether a guarded action is Pending, Completed, Failed or needs review.

Operation receipts are also the place to see why an action needs attention. Their operation key, action, expected revision and effect references tie an attempt back to a document. A failed attempt should be investigated from its reason, rather than repeated without checking whether it already made a local effect.

Define which evidence types the team uses and when an attachment may be Shared. Agree the minimum reason expected from an Accounting Reviewer, especially on a rejected or returned revision. Decide who investigates Failed and needs review operations and how they hand a finding back to the Accounting Preparer. Keep reviewer independence in the assignment practice as well as in the decision record.

The review queue should have a named owner each day. It is easy for a document to remain in Review when the reviewer assumes someone else is handling it. A clear queue routine makes the pending decision visible without changing the underlying source record.

Prepare a document with a receipt attachment, then send it to Review. Ask the Accounting Reviewer to read the attachment, line detail and gross amount before deciding. Record a reason that would still make sense to an Auditor reviewing the same revision later. Repeat with a receipt that disagrees with the amount and return or reject the revision. The preparer should correct the source and submit the new revision for a fresh decision.

For an action exception, inspect the operation key and effect references before retrying. Confirm whether the intended document, journal or application exists. Record the discrepancy so another reviewer can see why the action remained under attention.

• Documents Awaiting Review — The current documents waiting for an independent decision.
• Review Decision History — Prior decisions with reviewer, source revision and reason.
• Operations Needing Attention — Failed or needs-review actions with their reasons and parent documents.

Continue with document approval and reconciliation.