A system and method are provided which allows the monitoring of the allocation and use of buffers allocated from a buffer pool to processes executing within a data processing system. Conventionally, if an instance of a process crashes or loses a reference to a buffer, that buffer is rendered inaccessible by other processes. Eventually, the buffer pool will become exhausted. Errors in a communication system are difficult to attribute to a single cause and, in particular within a communication stack, often arise as a consequence of a series of events. Typically, prior art communication monitoring systems only keep track of the latest process to have had access to a buffer and do not allow an investigation into the past history of the possession or access to the buffers. Accordingly, the present invention provides a system and method for monitoring the history of the possession of or access to buffers within a communication system. An audit vector is used to store indications of all of the processes which have had access to a buffer. In the event of a malfunction or at the instigation of a user the contents of the audit vector are output for investigation.