Building a transaction timeline counsel can use

Counsel rarely needs your entire ledger extract. They need a timeline: when the request appeared, who approved it, when funds left, and what changed afterwards. A spreadsheet dump without sequence forces lawyers to reconstruct that story themselves.

Use one row per event, not per amount. Events include request creation, approval, amendment, payment run inclusion, bank debit, and any reversal. Attach a file reference to each row. Colour is optional; clarity is not.

Keep language factual. “User A approved invoice 4412 at 14:06” beats “suspicious late approval.” Your role in a forensic transaction review is to preserve facts; characterisations belong in the findings memo, clearly labelled as analysis.

Export the timeline as both spreadsheet and PDF cover. The PDF becomes the briefing artefact; the spreadsheet remains the working trail when new artefacts arrive mid-investigation.