When a spreadsheet bridge is still part of the reporting application

Temporary bridges have a habit of surviving several filing cycles. If a spreadsheet still feeds a compliance reporting application, it is part of the application landscape for audit purposes — regardless of which budget owns it.

What we examine

• Who can edit the bridge and whether changes are versioned
• Whether figures land in a controlled intake or paste over approved values
• How reconciling differences between bridge and ledger are cleared
• Whether the bridge is named in the procedure for the filing

Leaving bridges out of scope creates a false sense of comfort. A complete application audit either brings them into the memorandum or records a deliberate exclusion with residual risk named for management.