The primary purpose of an audit trail is to trace who made changes and when.

• A. To summarize payroll data
• B. To record revenue recognition
• C. To trace who made changes and when
• D. To plan budgets

Answer: (C)

An audit trail is a record of every action that affects financial data, showing who performed the action and when it happened. This creates traceability and accountability, so if a ledger entry is changed, you can identify the specific user and the exact time of the change, and often see what was changed. This capability is essential for detecting unauthorized edits, correcting errors, and supporting audits or investigations, because it provides a clear history of data events.

The other tasks described—summarizing payroll data, recording revenue recognition, or planning budgets—do not focus on tracking who changed what and when. They are about reporting, applying accounting rules, or forecasting, respectively.