What Belongs in a Trading Office Exception Log
Exception logs fill up with noise when every delayed fax is treated like a control breach. A tighter definition keeps the log useful for managers and reviewers.
An exception log should capture events that break an agreed control rule — not every operational hiccup. Late market data from a vendor is an operations issue; a trade booked without a second-eye check when policy requires one is an exception.
Useful fields are simple: date and time, desk, rule that was missed, who spotted it, interim mitigation, and when the permanent fix closed. Avoid free-text novels. Two or three factual sentences beat a paragraph of excuses.
Review the log weekly with the branch compliance officer present. Patterns matter more than single events. Three missed second-eye checks in a fortnight usually points to staffing or timing, not individual carelessness.
At month-end, archive closed items with enough detail that an external reviewer can reconstruct what happened without interviewing the whole floor again. That archive is often the difference between a calm audit week and a scramble for emails.
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