Short answer
Read-only auditor access should let reviewers see sampled grants, costs, reports, approvals, and documents without changing data or viewing unrelated donor details.
Auditor read-only access software guide
Audit requests can turn into long email chains. The auditor asks for a sampled transaction. Finance finds the invoice. Grants finds the award terms. Programs finds the report. Someone builds a folder. Then another request arrives.
Read-only access can help, but only if it is scoped well. The goal is to give reviewers what they need without giving edit rights or unrelated data.
Use this guide with what auditors ask for most often and the grant document management requirements guide.
Start with the audit request
Do not open broad access just because an audit starts. Start with the request list. What awards, dates, costs, reports, or controls are in scope?
For federal awards, 2 CFR 200.337 gives federal agencies and pass-through entities access rights to records related to the award. That does not mean every reviewer needs every record in every system. Scope still matters.
Use read-only by default
Auditors and external reviewers should not be able to edit records. They should not approve costs, change notes, delete files, or invite users.
Read-only access should allow viewing and downloading only when needed. If the system cannot separate view and edit rights, use an export packet instead.
Limit by grant, fund, and date
The best access model is narrow. It may limit a reviewer to one grant, one fiscal year, one fund, or one document bundle.
This protects donor privacy and reduces confusion. An auditor testing one federal award does not need to browse unrelated individual donor records.
Include enough context
A sampled cost needs more than an invoice. The reviewer may need:
- award agreement
- approved budget
- restriction terms
- cost category
- approval
- invoice
- payment proof
- allocation support
- related report
- closeout status
The software should let staff gather this context without rebuilding the file by hand.
Preserve activity history
Read-only access should show when a record was created, changed, approved, or closed when that history matters. 2 CFR 200.303 requires internal controls for federal awards. Activity history helps show that approvals and changes happened in a controlled way.
Do not expose sensitive notes that are outside audit scope. If your system stores internal comments, check what a reviewer can see.
Set access expiration
Auditor access should end. Set an expiration date before creating the account. Remove access after the review window closes.
Keep a log of who received access, what scope they had, who approved it, and when it ended.
Use export packets when needed
Direct access is not always the best choice. A clean export packet may be better when the system cannot scope records, when files include sensitive data, or when the auditor prefers a static file.
A good packet includes an index, file names, record IDs, dates, and source notes. It should be easy to trace each file back to the grant record.
Protect retained records
Federal grant records are generally retained for three years after final report submission under 2 CFR 200.334, with exceptions. Closed files still need to be found during that window.
Software should support archived read-only records. Staff should not have to restore old spreadsheets from personal drives.
Test before audit season
Create a fake reviewer or test account. Open one closed grant and one active grant. Confirm the reviewer can see needed files and cannot edit anything.
Also test downloads. Some teams discover too late that read-only users can see records but cannot export the evidence auditors requested.
Prepare staff for reviewer questions
Read-only access does not remove the need for staff judgment. Reviewers may still ask why a cost was allocated, why a report changed, or why a document is missing.
Assign one staff contact for audit questions. That person should know the scope, the access settings, and the location of support files. They should also track each question and response.
This keeps answers consistent. It also avoids a common problem: several staff members responding to the same reviewer with different file versions.
Close the loop after review
After the audit or review, remove access and save the final request list. Note which files were hard to find. Those pain points should become cleanup tasks before the next review.
Where GrantPipe fits
GrantPipe can be evaluated for teams that want scoped review access near grants, restricted funds, reports, and documents. As with any tool, test permissions with a real sample request before relying on it for audit work.
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Looking for something else?
- Read-only access
- Permission to view records without permission to create, edit, delete, or approve records.
DEFINITION
- Scope
- The specific records, dates, grants, funds, reports, or documents a reviewer is allowed to see.
DEFINITION
Q&A
What is read-only auditor access?
It is a limited account or review packet that lets an auditor view records and files without editing or deleting them.
Q&A
Who should approve auditor access?
Finance leadership should approve the scope, and an admin should set access limits and expiration.
Frequently asked