Glossary entry

Audit trail

Definition

A trace of events and decisions — what happened, when, by whom, under what rule — used for accountability. Audit trails matter only if they connect to reversal power. Where the trail is the store of decision records, the standards call it the decision log.

They are the raw material of the liability record and the policy record, and feed traceable ownership.

VisibilityStructural

Tests that show it is in place

  • Every consequential state change leaves a trace naming owner, rule, and time.
  • The trail reaches a decision-reversal authority rather than dead-ending in a log.
Cite this glossary entry · v1.17.1 · updated Oct 6, 2026 · CC BY-SA 4.0

APA

Ethotechnics Institute. (2026). Audit trail. Ethotechnics glossary. https://ethotechnics.org/glossary/audit-trail

MLA

Ethotechnics Institute. "Audit trail." Ethotechnics glossary, 2026, https://ethotechnics.org/glossary/audit-trail.

Chicago

Ethotechnics Institute. "Audit trail." Ethotechnics glossary. Oct 6, 2026. https://ethotechnics.org/glossary/audit-trail.

BibTeX

@misc{glossary_audit-trail,
  title={Audit trail},
  author={Ethotechnics Institute},
  year={2026},
  howpublished={Ethotechnics glossary},
  url={https://ethotechnics.org/glossary/audit-trail},
  version={v1.17.1}
}

RIS

TY  - WEB
TI  - Audit trail
AU  - Ethotechnics Institute
PY  - 2026
UR  - https://ethotechnics.org/glossary/audit-trail
ER  -

Authorship

Contact: hello@ethotechnics.org

Publication details

  • Published: Dec 3, 2025
  • Last updated: Oct 6, 2026
  • Version: v1.17.1

License: CC BY-SA 4.0

Credit Ethotechnics Institute, include the term title and version, and link to the glossary permalink.

Archive: Wayback Machine history

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v1.17.1 · Oct 6, 2026 — Editorial revision. Titles are in sentence case. Pasted spec blocks are replaced with prose and worked examples, 79 operational tests are rewritten as pass conditions, 22 origin notes are rewritten or sourced, and unsourced superlatives are cut. No terms were added or removed, and permalinks are unchanged.

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