# Why Propel Audit: the edge after the trade

A trading journal tells you how you traded. Propel Audit follows the money the rest of the way: through the firm's rules, the payout, the fees it took to get funded and the tax you will owe, to the number that is actually yours.

## Follow the money all the way

The path from a fill to money you can spend: the trade, the account's rules, the payout, the costs of getting funded, the tax, and what you keep. A trading journal covers the first step. A spreadsheet can cover more, as long as someone keeps it by hand. Propel covers all six from one CSV.

## Five reasons it adds up

- **Log once, see it everywhere**: a payout flows into the split, the tax set-aside and your true net without being typed twice.
- **Your firm's rules, built in**: drawdown, consistency, splits and payout cycles per account.
- **Read-only by design**: CSV in, no broker keys out; nothing can place a trade.
- **Prop and live, kept apart**: funded and brokerage accounts on one desk, never blended into one number.
- **See the next step first**: what more accounts add up to before you pay for another evaluation.

## Side by side

| The job | A trading journal | A spreadsheet | Propel Audit |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Trade analytics, equity curve, P&L calendar | Yes | By hand | Yes |
| Drawdown and payout rules per prop account | No | By hand | Yes |
| Every evaluation and reset against every payout | No | By hand | Yes |
| A split for each payout the day it lands | No | By hand | Yes |
| A tax set-aside at your own rates | No | By hand | Yes |
| Prop payouts and live brokerage money kept apart | No | By hand | Yes |

Generalised: individual journals differ. For named products, see [Propel vs. alternatives](https://www.propelaudit.com/compare).