Which practice helps ensure accountability in order processing?

• A. Maintaining an audit trail of changes.
• B. Ignoring data changes.
• C. Deleting old records after processing.
• D. Copying data to spreadsheets for no reason.

Answer: (A)

Maintaining an audit trail of changes establishes accountability by keeping a complete, verifiable record of who made changes to orders, when those changes occurred, and exactly what was changed. In order processing, this visibility lets you trace each step in the order’s lifecycle, spot unauthorized or erroneous edits, and provide solid evidence during audits or investigations. A secure, tamper-resistant log supports data integrity, helps enforce internal controls, and makes reconciliation and issue resolution straightforward because every action is traceable to a user and a timestamp.

Other practices undermine accountability: ignoring data changes hides activity and makes it hard to determine what happened; deleting old records eliminates history and prevents verification of actions; and duplicating data to separate spreadsheets creates ungoverned copies that can drift from the source and lack an integrated, auditable trail.