You can see who entered a transaction in QuickBooks Online by using the Audit Log, a powerful tool that tracks all activities and changes made within your company file.
The Audit Log in QuickBooks Online provides a detailed history of user activities, helping you monitor who does what and when. This includes tracking when transactions are entered, edited, or deleted, and by which user.
Accessing the Audit Log
To view who entered a transaction, follow these straightforward steps to navigate to the Audit Log:
- Log in to QuickBooks Online: Access your QuickBooks Online account using your administrator credentials or a user role with appropriate permissions.
- Navigate to the Audit Log:
- On the left-hand menu, select Settings (the gear icon).
- Under "Tools," choose Audit Log.
Understanding and Using the Audit Log
Once you're in the Audit Log, you'll see a chronological list of events. The Audit Log displays up to 150 records at a time, providing a clear overview of recent activities.
Key Information in the Audit Log
The Audit Log provides several crucial pieces of information for each entry:
- Date: The date and time the activity occurred.
- Event: A description of the action taken (e.g., "Created Invoice," "Edited Bill," "Deleted Expense").
- User: The name of the user who performed the action. This is how you identify who entered a specific transaction.
- History: For most transactions or events, you can select View in this column to open the audit history. This feature provides a deeper dive, showing exactly who made the change and what modifications were applied. You might also encounter an "indirect edit," which refers to changes made as a ripple effect of another action.
Filtering and Searching
To efficiently find specific transactions or activities, utilize the filtering options available in the Audit Log:
- Date: Filter by a custom date range to narrow down the events to a specific period.
- User: Select a specific user from the dropdown menu to see only their activities. This is particularly useful if you suspect a particular person might have entered a transaction.
- Events: Filter by specific event types, such as "Transactions," "Invoices," "Expenses," or "Sales Receipts," to pinpoint the exact transaction type you're looking for.
Example Scenario:
Imagine you need to find out who created an invoice on a particular day.
- Go to the Audit Log.
- Set the Date filter to the specific day.
- Set the Events filter to "Invoices."
- Review the list. The "User" column will show you exactly who created each invoice on that day.
By regularly utilizing the Audit Log, you can maintain transparency, accountability, and accuracy within your QuickBooks Online company file, making it easy to track and identify who entered any given transaction.
