What is being tested
Was a billed milestone payable only after a required predecessor was approved? The boundary for this investigation is milestone predecessor approval missing. Begin with the disputed transaction or population, then identify which milestone dependency schedule establishes the observed position and which predecessor acceptance supports the comparison. A difference in totals should not replace this question.
Evidence: milestone dependency schedule
For milestone predecessor approval missing, milestone dependency schedule must be linked to predecessor acceptance. Record the date convention and timezone where relevant. Separate occurrence, notification and posting times. A later administrative entry may describe an earlier event; the review must use the event specified by the governing record rather than whichever date is easiest to extract.
Evidence: predecessor acceptance
For milestone predecessor approval missing, predecessor acceptance must be linked to milestone invoice. Preserve the authorized sender, accepted scope and event timestamp. Distinguish a request from its acceptance and check whether the approver had authority for this change. Later approval should remain visible as a separate event rather than rewrite the original sequence.
Evidence: milestone invoice
For milestone predecessor approval missing, milestone invoice must be linked to amendment. Keep the issued document version and line-level quantity, currency and service period. A header total cannot establish which component is being tested. Retain later corrections as linked versions, so a replacement does not create a second liability.
Evidence: amendment
For milestone predecessor approval missing, amendment must be linked to milestone dependency schedule. Record the date convention and timezone where relevant. Separate occurrence, notification and posting times. A later administrative entry may describe an earlier event; the review must use the event specified by the governing record rather than whichever date is easiest to extract.
Reconciliation logic
Compare milestone completion with the dependency and any accepted waiver rather than percent progress alone. Build the comparison at the level identified by milestone dependency schedule and retain the governing version from predecessor acceptance. Show intermediate classifications and excluded items separately; a net total can hide an unsupported component or a correctly offset correction.
Exception conditions
An approved waiver can permit payment before the predecessor. Treat the item as an unresolved exception only when the comparison described here cannot be supported by the linked milestone dependency schedule, predecessor acceptance, milestone invoice, amendment. Document the conflicting input or rule. A plausible operational explanation requires validation, but it should not be discarded to maximize an apparent financial difference.
Human review and outcome
The project sponsor validates acceptance and waiver authority. Return a milestone prerequisite disposition for AP. Keep the reviewer's reason and source references with that disposition. A supported correction should be followed to the revised record or settlement; an accepted explanation can close the question with no adjustment. Missing authority or evidence should remain an open task rather than a confirmed recovery.
Limitations and processing boundary
A PO, acceptance record or supplier credit request alone cannot prove a complete recovery. The authoritative supplier, contract, PO, invoice and receipt processor is not complete. Treat commercial interpretation, authorized acceptance and final credit application as separate validation steps. In this scenario, absence of milestone dependency schedule or predecessor acceptance limits whether the comparison can be completed. The review method describes what people should validate, not a promise that AuditRes automatically detects or executes this specific outcome.
AuditRes pathway
Discuss milestone predecessor approval missing in the Procurement workspace. Review current plans, the shared platform and secure evidence requirements; use the existing contact path to confirm the sources and validation this scope requires.
AuditRes Procurement: Available for onboarding. Public previews use synthetic demonstration data; production processing remains gated until applicable customer sources and authoritative processors are connected and validated.
Neighboring financial questions
- Accounts Payable review of reversed service entries
- Time-and-materials overtime premium approval
- Service-entry measurement unit mismatch
- Progress billing cumulative completion overstatement
Procurement resource hub · All guides in this evidence collection