A reason written on the day of the decision is evidence. Written later, it's a defense.
The written reason, the approval record and the signed reconciliation letter sit in one place.
The line, with its reason
When the auditor asks, the record stands as written that day.
When the auditor asks, the reason was written that day, not reconstructed later.
Illustrative screen · sample data
This page explains how the evidence an auditor expects from internal audit reconciliation is produced. It is written for CFOs, accounting managers and internal auditors, so every reason is ready on audit day.
The auditor does not ask whether the balance agrees. They ask which payment settled invoice FT-2026-0412 for TRY 48,250.00. They ask who made that decision, on what date and for what reason. In a spreadsheet, that answer lives in one person's memory or in an e-mail chain.
iFinances builds matching on top of an audit trail. An audit trail is the record of who decided what, when and why, and it forms during matching. Three sources are matched on one table. These are the account statement (accounts 120 and 320), the bank statement and the e-invoice (e-Fatura) list. The engine presents every proposal with a written reason, a person decides and the decision is recorded.
Why does the audit get hard?
The reconciliation may have been done. The auditor is looking for proof that it was.
A decision without a reason
A TRY 48,250.00 transfer dated June 18, 2026 was applied to invoice FT-2026-0412. Why that invoice is written nowhere. When the auditor asks, the answer comes from memory, and memory is not audit evidence.
Nobody knows who approved
Five people edited the reconciliation file. Who made which match and who changed it is invisible. Segregation of duties means the preparer and the approver are different people. That split cannot be traced in the file.
Evidence produced after the fact
As the audit calendar approaches, the March reconciliation table is rebuilt. The document date and the day the decision was made are not the same. The auditor sees the gap.
The signed letter cannot be found
The counterparty's confirmation sits in an e-mail and a scan of the signed letter in a shared folder. When the auditor asks for the June 2026 letter, the search begins. A copy that cannot be found counts as a reconciliation that was not done.
A letter mistaken for external confirmation
In a statutory audit, external confirmation is a letter the auditor sends and receives directly (ISA 505). The company's own reconciliation letter does not replace it. When the auditor asks for a separate confirmation, line-level evidence must be ready.
Open items roll forward unexplained
A TRY 1,250.00 difference unresolved at the end of June quietly carries into July. How many periods it has been open and who is following it is written nowhere. When the auditor asks, there is no starting point.
How does it work?
The audit trail is not a report written afterwards. It forms on its own at every step of matching.
- 1
Upload the three sources
You upload your ERP account statement, your bank statement and your e-invoice list as Excel or CSV. iFinances recognizes the file format from its content and resolves debit and credit signs. It does not guess a column it does not recognize, it asks you.
AR · bank · e-invoice · one table - 2
Read every proposal with its reason
iFinances proposes matching the TRY 48,250.00 transfer dated June 18, 2026 with invoice FT-2026-0412. It writes the reason as well. The amount matches exactly, the date is within terms and the bank description carries the invoice number. You read the reason and accept or reject it.
INV-0412: amount · date · name ✓ - 3
You decide, the record stays
You accept, reject or correct the proposal from the Approval Center screen. iFinances keeps the person who decided, the time and the proposal together. It never closes a line on its own and never posts to your ledger.
Approved · A. Yilmaz · 18.06 10:42 - 4
Archive the counterparty confirmation and the letter
The counterparty uploads its own statement through a secure link and confirms the balance, with no account required. iFinances produces the reconciliation letter as a summary table per currency with a serial number. You upload the signed copy and iFinances archives it per counterparty and per period.
Letter 2026-06/0031 · signed copy - 5
Show the auditor the line
When the auditor asks about invoice FT-2026-0412, you open the line. iFinances shows the matching record, the reason, the decision and the letter on one screen. The reconciliation report exports to Excel and goes into the audit file.
Auditor: INV-0412 → line · decision · letter
Reconciliation done versus reconciliation proven
Both make the balance agree. The difference appears when the auditor asks.
- Matches made, reasons not written
- Who did what is invisible
- Evidence rebuilt before the audit
- Signed letters hunted in e-mail
- Open items roll forward silently
- A table is sent to the auditor
- A written reason next to every match
- Decision kept with person and date
- Reason written on the day of the decision
- Signed copies archived per counterparty and period
- Open items stay listed with reason and note
- Line, reason and decision shown together
What do you hold on audit day?
Audit preparation stops being a separate project. The work done every month already is the audit file.
The reason for any line, the person who decided and the date are on screen at once. For FT-2026-0412 the answer comes from the record, not from memory.
Counterparty confirmations and signed letter copies sit in one place per counterparty and period. The June 2026 letter is found without a search.
Open items are listed with how many periods they have been open and a note. A TRY 1,250.00 difference cannot roll into July unseen.
Start with the counterparty the auditor asked about most
Bring the statement of the counterparty that drew the most audit questions. Add your bank statement and your e-invoice list. In thirty minutes we match the lines. We read the reason behind every match together and show how it goes into the audit file.
Frequently asked questions
No, iFinances is a reconciliation platform. It produces the evidence internal audit expects from reconciliation during matching. That evidence is line-level reasons, decision records and a letter archive. It does not do the work of internal audit tools such as audit planning or finding tracking.
It does not. External confirmation (ISA 505) is a procedure the auditor sends and receives directly. The letter and matching record produced by iFinances are the company's own evidence. The auditor uses them when planning their own confirmations and explaining differences.
The line asked about, its reason and its decision record open together on the platform. The reconciliation report exports to Excel and goes into the audit file. Counterparty confirmations sit together with the secure-link records.
You can reject a match and redo it. The earlier decision and reason are not deleted, and the new decision is added as a separate record. The auditor sees which decision was made when.
It does not prevent it. According to the ACFE 2024 report, only 5 percent of cases are first detected through account reconciliation. Line-level matching makes duplicate payments and unexplained differences visible. What was done about a visible difference is recorded as well.
Matching happens as data arrives. At month end only the remaining exceptions are worked. The audit trail forms on its own along the way. Closing and audit preparation stop being two separate jobs.
30 minutes. With your own data.
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