Start with what each number means. A marketing report and a finance view may answer different questions. A difference is a reason to investigate, rather than proof that one total is wrong.
Five questions to send the report owner
- Which source? Name the source report or export, metric and snapshot. “Revenue” alone is too broad.
- Which dates? Record the start and end, time zone, date field, filters and refresh cutoff.
- Which definition? Ask how refunds, tax, shipping and currency are treated. For attributed figures, record the model and lookback window. Do not assume those totals represent a single deduplicated sales ledger.
- Can we compare them? Have the report owner and finance approver agree which definitions belong beside each other. Keep different measures separately labelled.
- What evidence is missing? Retain the source control, report version, difference and unresolved question. Investigate arithmetic only after establishing comparability.
A note you can forward
Before we try to make the two revenue totals match, could you confirm the source, date window and definition behind each one?
In particular: are refunds handled the same way, and is either figure assigning credit to marketing activity? If the reports answer different questions, let's label that clearly. If they measure the same thing, we can trace where the difference appears.
No client files or logins needed for this first conversation.
Synthetic illustration: a report labelled “ad-attributed revenue: $12,000” and a finance view labelled “cash collected: $9,000” are not yet a $3,000 calculation error. The labels alone do not establish comparable populations, dates or treatments. Neither total is verified by this illustration.
Google's attribution-settings guidance explains how models and lookback windows affect credit. This checklist concerns marketing-report definitions and reconciliation. Accounting policies and financial conclusions stay with the client's finance professional.