Understanding the Audit Trail

AccuArk maintains an immutable audit trail that logs every significant action performed within the employee management module. This trail provides a complete history of who changed what, when, and why — giving business owners the accountability they need for compliance and dispute resolution.

What Gets Tracked

Salary Audit Log

Every salary record action is captured in the salary_audit_log table. The following action types are recorded:

Field-Level Change Tracking

Each audit record stores granular detail about what changed. When a field is modified, the system records the old value, the new value, the user who made the change, and a timestamp.

For example, if a manager changes an employee's hourly rate from $15.00 to $17.50, the audit log captures:

• Field: HourlyRate
• Old Value: 15.00
• New Value: 17.50
• Changed By: ManagerUserName
• Timestamp: 2026-02-13 09:32:15

This level of detail makes it straightforward to trace exactly what happened and who was responsible.

Time Clock Audit

When a manager edits a time clock entry, the system records the original clock-in and clock-out times alongside the adjusted times. A mandatory reason field requires the editor to explain why the change was made. This prevents silent modifications to employee hours and provides documentation if the adjustment is ever questioned.

Session Tracking

Each user login creates a session record that includes the date and time of login, the machine name, and the IP address. Session tracking helps identify who was logged in at any given time and from which workstation, which is valuable during internal investigations.

Error Logging

System errors encountered during employee management operations are captured with full stack traces and contextual information. These error logs assist technical support and developers in troubleshooting issues without requiring the user to reproduce the problem.

Viewing Audit Records

To review the audit trail, navigate to Reports > Audit Trail. The report interface allows you to filter results by:

• Employee — View all changes related to a specific employee
• Date Range — Narrow results to a specific time period
• Action Type — Filter by Created, Updated, Deleted, Voided, or payment actions

Why Audit Trails Matter

A complete audit trail serves several critical business purposes:

• Labor law compliance — Federal (FLSA) and state wage laws require employers to maintain accurate records of hours worked and wages paid. The audit trail demonstrates that your records are trustworthy.
• Payroll dispute resolution — When an employee questions their pay, you can pull the exact history of changes to their hours, rate, or deductions to resolve the issue with facts.
• Internal investigations — If unauthorized changes are suspected, the audit trail reveals exactly who made each modification and when.
• Due diligence — During audits or legal proceedings, a well-maintained audit trail demonstrates that your organization takes recordkeeping seriously.

Immutability

Audit records cannot be edited or deleted by any user, including Super Admins. This is by design. The integrity of the audit trail depends on its immutability — if records could be altered, the trail would lose its value as an objective source of truth.

Tips

• Review audit logs during payroll processing to catch any unauthorized changes before finalizing pay
• Use audit data to resolve employee disputes about hours worked or pay received
• Export audit reports for external auditors or legal counsel when needed
• Periodically spot-check the audit trail to ensure managers are following proper procedures when editing time entries