The Reviewer signs after every entry is read back.
The Preparer keys your tax software from the entry list and marks each row as a match or a mismatch. The Reviewer signs off only when every row is read back as a match, and the record shows who did what.
Tax prep, reviewed beside the source
An entry you cannot trace to the client's documents is one you sign on faith. TracePrep puts each row beside its source before the Reviewer signs.
Row by row, beside the page
The Reviewer reviews the entry list beside its sources, grouped by form. Every row opens to its source in two clicks or fewer. One filter shows the rows that need a closer look: values the Preparer corrected or keyed, and rows that did not match at first readback.
Row exceptions and send back
A row exception needs a written reason. The Reviewer can send the work back to the Preparer with a reason, and cannot change a value or an entry state. Sign-off stays blocked while any row exception is open.
Sign-off is not a signature on the return
The Reviewer signs only after every row is read back as a match and no row exception is open. The Sign-off says what the Reviewer compared and reviewed, and that it is not a signature on the tax return. Who signs the return as paid preparer is decided in your tax software, outside TracePrep.
In a Study, the Reviewer controls the conclusion.
Signing a compensation figure you cannot trace is exposure nobody chose to take on. In TracePrep nothing reaches a client until a Reviewer has inspected the derivation and approved it, and the record shows who did what.
Review is not a rubber stamp, so the tooling should not treat it as one
A study arrives finished. The number is on the page, the formatting is clean, and none of that tells the Reviewer whether the derivation holds. The usual options are both bad: accept it because the preparer is capable, or rebuild it because you are the one signing. TracePrep offers a third. Open the derivation, read the evidence behind each figure, read the rationale recorded with each preparer adjustment, and decide from what is actually there. The judgment stays the Reviewer’s. TracePrep supports it rather than standing in for it.
The audit log records who prepared, who changed what, and who approved
Every action that changes a Study is recorded. Who prepared it. Which figures a Preparer adjusted, what the prior value was, and the rationale given. When each change happened. Who approved the result. The log is not a report assembled afterward to satisfy a file review. It accumulates as the work happens, and that is the only kind of record of professional judgment worth reading. When a question arrives about how a conclusion was reached, the answer is in the log rather than in somebody’s recollection.
Nothing is delivered until the Reviewer releases it
The Reviewer holds both gates. The conclusion is not final until a Reviewer approves it, and the finished Study does not go out until a Reviewer releases it. There is no path where a Study reaches a client because a step was skipped or a deadline was close. That control point is a property of the workflow rather than a policy somebody has to remember to follow, which is what makes it something the Firm can describe and rely on.
Why this matters
For the Reviewer
In tax prep, you sign only after every row of the entry list is read back as a match. In a Study, the derivation, the adjustments and their stated reasons, and the change history are all in front of you before you approve. Either way, the record shows the approval was yours.
For the Firm
Review becomes consistent across preparers instead of depending on who happened to prepare the file. With Reviewer separation turned on, a person who helped prepare the work cannot sign it off. The Firm gets one control point it can describe, and a log that shows the control actually operated.
Questions
Does TracePrep check whether the Reviewer is qualified?
Can an AI assistant or other agent sign off?
Does "Reviewer sign-off" mean TracePrep reviews the Study?
What exactly does the audit log capture?
Can a Study be delivered without a Reviewer approving it?
The Reviewer signs. The record shows it.
One waitlist covers the TracePrep app and the TracePrep plugin. For a Reasonable Compensation Study, see how a Study is built.