Archiving, audit and evidence

The pillar guide

Archiving, audit and evidence explained - Keeping the invoice and its status evidence retrievable for audit, in the form it was issued and received.

Working guides in this topic

• Archive checklist for a first audit - Sample retrieval, integrity evidence, status trail and retention rule, checked before the auditor arrives.
• Archive integrity and tamper evidence - How to show an archived invoice has not changed, and what evidence supports that claim.
• Audit trails for invoice exchanges - A trail that shows who sent what, when, through which route, and with what status.
• Cloud archiving and control - What to check when an archive lives with a provider: access, export, location and exit.
• Deleting invoices safely at end of retention - Deletion only after retention, authorisation and a record of what was deleted, and why.
• Evidence for tax and legal questions - What to produce when a tax or legal question arises, and why the status trail matters as much as the invoice.
• Readable archives and format migration - Keeping an archive readable when formats change, without losing the original form.
• Retention periods and how to check them - Retention as a rule to check with the official source for each jurisdiction, not as a single number on this site.
• Retrieving an invoice for audit - Finding an invoice by identifier, party, period and status, quickly enough for an audit to use.
• What to archive with an invoice - Invoice, status messages, corrections and references, as one retrievable set.

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