Domain
40 RecipesRecipes for data engineers working with finance-domain data and controls.
Credit risk reads delinquency off a servicer status field that each system refreshes on its own day, so bucket counts and roll rates differ from report to report.
Revenue accounting closes the month by working gross to net in spreadsheets, nobody can audit them, and the trade accrual never ties to what customers claim.
The payback conversation uses a customer value from a spreadsheet nobody can reproduce, and it counts order revenue only, with no refunds and no cost of serving the orders.
Finance needs the aged payables for a past month or quarter end, but the payables system only shows what is owed today.
Finance needs the aged receivables report and DSO for a past month or quarter end, but the receivables system only shows what is open today.
Budget-versus-actual is a monthly copy-paste from the general ledger into the budget spreadsheet, and the variances change depending on who built them.
Accounts payable paid the same supplier invoice twice and only found out when the supplier returned the money.
Every month someone rebuilds the fixed-asset register and depreciation schedule in a spreadsheet to prove that opening value plus additions less depreciation and disposals equals closing value.
Month-end close stalls because control accounts do not agree with their subledgers and the difference is worked out by hand in a spreadsheet.
Finance subtracts one period's gross margin from another and writes the explanation by hand, and the story changes with whoever builds it.
Revenue is spread across months by hand in a spreadsheet and never agrees with the deferred revenue balance or with what was invoiced.
The weekly cash view is a spreadsheet rebuilt by hand each week, and nobody can say which receipt, payment or assumption moved a week's balance.
The close pack is rebuilt by hand every period and last quarter's trial balance cannot be reproduced as it was when the period closed.
A SaaS renewal is due and nobody can say how many of the paid seats are actually used.
The revenue cycle team matches payer remittances to billed claims by hand, and nobody can say, payer by payer, how much of what was billed was paid, adjusted, denied or is still open.
Reserving analysts rebuild loss triangles by hand in spreadsheets, and a late payment or reserve change pushes back into cells that were already reported.
Finance cannot say what closing inventory is worth or how much cost of goods sold a month carries because receipts, issues, returns and adjustments are costed by hand.
Production-order variances are worked out in a spreadsheet nobody can audit, and nobody can say which standard version each variance was measured against.
Nobody can say how much of the company's material is sitting at a subcontractor, because transfers, returns, scrap reports and finished receipts live in different places and are never netted.
Marketing says a channel pays back quickly and Finance says it never does, and nobody can show the sum from the spend and contribution records.
Campaign owners ask whether a campaign is on pace and the answer changes with which budget version and which cost number someone used.
Sales and finance cannot see total revenue or pipeline for a whole corporate family because subsidiaries sit as separate accounts.
Procurement, Finance and the business units each quote a different spend total, and nobody can say how much was bought outside a contract.
Gross sales minus original item cost overstates order margin because refunds and returns arrive after the order.
Payroll expense in the general ledger does not match the payroll register at close, and the gap is worked out by hand.
Procurement and finance are asked what is still owed to suppliers on open orders at a month-end, and each answer comes from a different spreadsheet.
Procurement reports savings from negotiated agreements and Finance cannot trace them to the prices actually paid.
Procurement cannot say how much supplier rebate has been earned under each purchasing agreement this period, or how much of it suppliers have already credited.
Accounts payable is asked to release payment and cannot say how much of an invoice is covered by the goods actually received.
Grants accountants cannot say per award how much is authorized, obligated, spent and drawn, and each report gives a different answer.
A supplier owns stock until it sells, that stock shares a store and SKU with stock we bought outright, and the stock report adds the two together.
Finance cannot say what each marketplace order settled for or what is still owed, because fees, refunds, chargebacks and reserves are netted into payouts.
Stores count each till at shift close and Finance cannot tell which shortages are real and which come from how the POS records voids, refunds, change and float moves.
RevOps and Finance each quote booked, billed and collected, and the three numbers never agree because every team ties them together with its own spreadsheet.
Finance, RevOps and the board each quote a different net revenue retention because each turns subscriptions into monthly recurring revenue its own way.
Finance cannot say what each rep is owed because tier rates, caps, holds, payments and cancellations are applied by hand in a spreadsheet.
Sales and Finance disagree about the price a customer was promised, and someone reconciles quotes to orders and invoices by hand.
Finance adds amounts held in several currencies as if they were one, or restates old transactions at today's rate, and the total changes every time someone reruns it.
Usage charges differ by who calculated them, because graduated and volume pricing, shared allowances and credits are applied differently from one run to the next.
Revenue assurance compares metered usage with billed usage in a spreadsheet each month, and nobody can say which differences are real and which are timing, estimates or a meter swap.