TicketBI-1057

Finance disputes the dashboard

The CFO says the Q1 net revenue on your new dashboard is too high and wants it explained before the board pack goes out.

Reported by: Sarah Chen, CFO
Opened: Wed 15 Apr 2026, 08:14
Needed by: Fri 17 Apr 2026, 12:00
Priority: Urgent
Time box: 4 h

Labels: financeboard-packnumbers-disputed

Previously at Northwind

Your Q1 dashboard went to the leadership meeting on Monday and Jordan's slide was well received. On Tuesday Jordan forwarded the dashboard link to the CFO.

Why the business cares The board pack goes to the directors on Friday. If the board sees one revenue figure from Sales and another from Finance, the question stops being "why is growth slowing" and becomes "can we trust any of our numbers". Finance's number is the one the auditors will check.

Brief

Sarah ChenCFOemail Wed 15 Apr, 08:14

Q1 net revenue on the sales dashboard

Good morning,

Jordan shared your Q1 dashboard with me. It shows net revenue of $244,409 for Q1 2026. Our ledger shows $241,663. Your figure is $2,746 too high.

The board pack goes out on Friday at noon and it will show the ledger figure. Before then I need to understand exactly why the two differ, and I need the dashboard to either match the ledger or say clearly that it measures something else.

Nina will send you the ledger extract. Please don't change anything on the dashboard until we've spoken.

Sarah Chen, CFO

Nina KowalskiFinance Analystemail Wed 15 Apr, 09:02

RE: Q1 net revenue on the sales dashboard

Hi, attached is the Q1 GL extract for the revenue accounts, by posting period. This is what goes into the board pack.

I don't know how your dashboard is built, so I can't tell you where the difference is. I tried by month in Excel and every month is off by a different amount, so it's not one thing. Happy to jump on a call.

Jordan ReedVP Saleschat Wed 15 Apr, 09:30

Saw Sarah's email. My numbers are right, aren't they? Sales has always reported it this way. Please don't let Finance change our dashboard without talking to me.

What you are expected to do

Build a monthly reconciliation between the dashboard and the ledger.
Find every reason the numbers differ and quantify each one, so that they add up exactly to the gap.
Decide what the dashboard should do: match Finance, keep the Sales view, or show both, clearly labelled. Justify it.
Implement the corrected measure(s) and prove nothing else broke (regression check).
Write the reply to Sarah (and copy Jordan): short, factual, no blame.

Deliverables

Reconciliation table: dashboard → ledger, one line per cause, summing exactly to the gap
Root cause note: which definitions each team uses, and why both are internally consistent
Updated KPI dictionary with both definitions, named so nobody confuses them
Corrected measures in the model, with a regression check on the Sprint 01 numbers
Reply to the CFO, copying the VP Sales

Evidence

finance_gl_q1_2026.csv (from Nina) General ledger revenue accounts by posting period.
dashboard_q1_2026.csv Net Sales by month as shown on the dashboard (use your own model from Sprint 01 if you built one).
orders.csv
order_lines.csv
returns.csv
fx_rates.csv
Finance policy manual, chapter 4: Revenue (extract)
The Net Sales definition you agreed with Jordan in Sprint 01