Blog · Data quality and reconciliation
Why two reports for the same month disagree when one uses the calendar month and the other the fiscal period, the four period conventions that appear in a single company, calendar month, 4-4-5 fiscal periods, week-ending Sunday, and invoice-date versus ship-date, the rule that every export states its cut and every report inherits it, the identity that a year's periods sum to the year, and the trap of comparing this March to last March across a 53-week year.
Sales reports March revenue at $4.18m. Finance reports period three at $3.96m. Both are right, and the difference is a week that belongs to one calendar and not the other. This guide sets out the four conventions that appear in one company, the rule for exports and reports, the identity, and the traps.
| Convention | Used by | Period example |
|---|---|---|
| Calendar month | The ledger, most CRMs | 1 to 31 March |
| 4-4-5 fiscal period | Finance, the board pack | Period 3: weeks 9 to 13 |
| Week ending Sunday | CRM activity exports, weekly digests | Week ending 29 March |
| Invoice date vs ship date | The ledger vs operations | Shipped 31 March, invoiced 2 April |
Every export states its cut. Every report inherits the cut of its ledger of record and states it. Comparisons are like to like.
Σ periods in the year = the year's total, on the same convention Σ weeks in a period = the period, where weeks nest
A calendar month does not nest in a 4-4-5 period, and no identity holds between them. They are bridged, not summed.
| Export | Native cut | Aligned to |
|---|---|---|
| Ledger | Invoice date, calendar month | Fiscal period, if finance closes on it |
| CRM activities | Week ending Sunday | Weeks that nest in the fiscal period |
| Pipeline snapshot | As at a date | Period end date |
| Contract register | Effective dates | Period in force |
Weeks nest in 4-4-5 periods by construction. Calendar months do not, and a company on 4-4-5 aligns its ledger export to the period, not the month.
| Report | Cut | March, or period 3 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sales | Calendar month, invoice date | $4.18m | |
| Finance | Period 3, weeks 9 to 13, invoice date | $3.96m | $220k: invoices dated 30 and 31 March fall in period 4 |
| Operations | Calendar month, ship date | $4.31m | $130k shipped in March, invoiced in April |
Three right numbers. The pack shows one, states the cut, and bridges the other two in a footnote.
| Prior year period 12 | This year period 12 | Growth | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks | 5 | 6 | |
| Revenue | $5.0m | $5.9m | +18% |
| Per week | $1.0m | $0.98m | −2% |
Flagged, with the per-week line beside it.
Cut unstated. Two Marches, one argument.
Month compared to period. A week of revenue moves and nobody knows why.
Ship date and invoice date mixed. The same shipment in two periods.
53rd week unflagged. Eighteen percent growth that is six days.
Mapped once, each export's cut is recorded, the reports inherit the ledger's, and the bridges and the 53-week flag are computed on every period. Covirage builds this from the exports as they are. The metrics governance solution describes the setup, and the territory reconciliation guide covers the period cut as one of the five reasons totals disagree.
The one the ledger of record uses, because the identity is to the ledger. If finance closes on 4-4-5 periods, the pack is on 4-4-5 periods, and the CRM's weekly exports are cut to align. Activity measures can run weekly inside that; revenue measures follow the ledger.
A shipment on the 31st invoiced on the 2nd is in March by ship date and April by invoice date. Revenue is by invoice date in most ledgers; operations report by ship date. The report says which, and the two are bridged at period end, never mixed.
A 4-4-5 calendar has a 53rd week every five or six years. That year's last period has an extra week, and comparing it to the prior year's last period shows growth that is a week of extra days. The report flags the 53-week period and shows the comparison on a per-day or per-week basis.