What is Audit Certificate?
A PDF that summarizes every event in a document's audit trail — the legal evidence record for a signed contract.
An audit certificate is a PDF generated from a document's audit trail. It lists every action — view, sign, decline, comment, download — with timestamps, IP addresses, and the document's hash at each step. The certificate is the artifact you produce in a dispute to demonstrate when the document was signed, by whom, from where, and that it hasn't been altered since. PDF Verified generates audit certificates on demand (never stored) and includes a QR code linking to public verification.
What's on the certificate
Document title, owner, creation timestamp, list of signers with email/phone, full event log (one row per action) with timestamp/IP/user-agent, document SHA-256 hash, and a QR code linking to https://pdfverified.com/verify?doc=... for public verification.
Why JIT generation matters
Storing every audit certificate eats storage and risks drift (an old cert no longer reflects later events). PDF Verified renders the certificate at download time from the live audit trail, so it's always current. Zero permanent storage of derived artifacts.
When you need it
Disputes (most common), KYC compliance audits, regulator submissions, IRS audits of contractor agreements, and litigation discovery. Many PDF Verified users download a certificate for every fully-signed contract as a routine compliance step.