What describes an audit trail?

• A. A summary of bank statements.
• B. A method for encrypting data.
• C. A path to trace a transaction through the system.
• D. A blueprint for system design.

Answer: (C)

An audit trail is a detailed record that shows the sequence of actions a transaction goes through in a system, including who performed each action, when it happened, and what changes were made. This traceability lets you reconstruct events to verify accuracy, accountability, and compliance, which is exactly what you need to understand in revenue systems where postings, edits, and access must be auditable. That makes the path to trace a transaction through the system the correct description of an audit trail. The other options miss the essence: a summary of bank statements is just financial reconciliation data, encryption is about protecting data, and a blueprint for system design is about planning the architecture—none of which capture the recorded sequence of events and changes that an audit trail provides.