With SQL2K Scope_Identity() solves those issues - I agree it was a pain and a MAJOR source of bugs if someone added a trigger that inserted to another table with identity column after the fact. Another option is to use a unique identifier for the audit primary key if you prefer/like a contrived key.

On text cols...guess it depends how important it is! I use instead of triggers in some places, in others it is non-critical data and I just don't audit.

Andy