# Account audit

An account audit is one row per finding. Each row separates what was checked from what was found, attaches the evidence, rates how much it matters, and names one person and one date for the fix.

The separation is the whole discipline. An audit that mixes observation with recommendation turns into an argument about the recommendation, and the observation — which was the useful part — is never settled.

## How to use it

1. Copy this file, or the CSV version if you would rather work in a sheet.
2. Work area by area rather than campaign by campaign, so the same check is applied everywhere.
3. Write what was found separately from what should be done.
4. Attach evidence to every finding, with the date range you looked at.
5. Keep severity honest: if everything is critical, nothing is.
6. Agree owners and dates with the people who will do the work, not in their absence.
7. Close findings as accepted where somebody has decided to live with them.

## The columns

**Area** (Text). Which part of the account this finding belongs to: structure, budget, audiences, creative, tracking, landing pages, access, naming, reporting. Grouping by area is what makes an audit readable.

**Check performed** (Text). What was actually looked at, written as an action somebody could repeat. An audit that cannot be repeated next quarter produces findings nobody can compare.

**What was found** (Text). The observation, stated plainly and without a recommendation in it. Separating what is true from what should be done is what keeps an audit from being an argument.

**Evidence** (Text). Where the finding can be seen: the screen, the export, the date range, the screenshot. A finding without evidence is an opinion, and it will be treated as one.

**Severity** (Text). How much this matters: spending money wrongly now, distorting a decision, or untidy. Three levels is enough, and inflating everything to the top level is how an audit gets ignored.

**Impact** (Text). What it is costing, in the terms the reader cares about. Where the cost can be estimated from the account, estimate it and say how; where it cannot, say that instead of guessing.

**Recommendation** (Text). What to do, written as one action with a subject. Not consider optimising. A recommendation somebody cannot start on Monday is a paragraph, not a recommendation.

**Effort** (Text). Roughly what the fix costs: minutes, a day, a project. It is what lets a reader sort the list into what happens this week and what needs planning.

**Owner** (Text). The person who will do it, by name, agreed rather than assigned in absence. An audit whose owners were never consulted is a document, not a plan.

**Due** (Date (YYYY-MM-DD)). When the fix is expected. An audit with no dates becomes a list that is read once and referenced in the next audit as still outstanding.

**Status** (Text). Open, done, or accepted. Accepted is the important one: a finding somebody has decided to live with, on purpose, is closed rather than perpetually open.

**Reviewed on** (Date (YYYY-MM-DD)). The day this finding was checked. Accounts change, and a finding from a quarter ago may already be fixed, worse, or irrelevant.

**Notes** (Text). What the next auditor needs: the reason something looks wrong and is not, the constraint behind a structure, the history that explains a decision.

## The account audit

| Area | Check performed | What was found | Evidence | Severity | Impact | Recommendation | Effort | Owner | Due | Status | Reviewed on | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |

## Before you commit it

- Every finding separates what was found from what should be done.
- Every finding has evidence with a date range attached.
- Severity is honest, and not everything is at the top level.
- Every recommendation is one action with a subject.
- Every row has an owner by name and a due date.
- Findings somebody has decided to live with are closed as accepted.
- The same checks can be repeated next quarter.