Journal
Building a defensible expense review file
A defensible file is not the thickest folder. It is the one a calm stranger can follow. That stranger might be your future self, an external auditor, or a people partner joining late.
Separate facts from framing
Keep raw exports and receipts in a frozen evidence section. Keep analysis — tags, hypotheses, interview notes — in a working section that shows chronology. Mixing them invites accidental overwrites.
Date every scope change
If you expand from subsistence to mileage mid-case, say so, with a timestamp and a reason. Silent scope creep is how reviews start looking like fishing expeditions.
Close with a decision, not a vibe
Recommendations should name the next owner and the monitoring period. “Keep an eye on this” is not a decision. Module 6 of Expense Trail Investigator drills this until it becomes muscle memory.