Returns, chargebacks, failed payouts, and manual credit adjustments accumulate quietly until someone asks for a clean audit trail. The queue is not a nuisance—it is a control surface.
Choose a slice that matches risk
For a two-week field review, pull a stratified sample: high-value items, items older than policy, and a random set from the middle of the distribution. Pure random sampling alone can miss the cases that actually threaten customer money.
Watch the handoffs
Note who first touches a ticket, who can override a rule, and who closes the item. If the same person creates, approves, and clears a high-value exception, segregation of duties is a finding even when balances later look tidy.
Document the “why” field
Many systems allow a free-text reason. Auditors should test whether those notes are reusable. “Fixed” or “OK” is not evidence. A usable note names the source file, the customer impact, and the approval reference.
Tie queues to reconciliations
Aged exceptions that never appear in suspense accounts are a red flag. Your reconciliation integrity check should reconcile both the money and the ticket aging so leadership sees one picture, not two competing truths.