Accounting & Finance
How should adjustments to operating data be documented?
Last reviewed
Direct answer
Document each adjustment with the original value, the adjusted value, the reason, the supporting evidence, the approver, the date, the period affected and the reports affected. Keep the record attached to the number it changes. An adjustment without a record is invisible to the next person who relies on that number.
Why this happens
Undocumented adjustments are a common reason prior-period numbers cannot be reproduced.
A pattern of adjustments shows where upstream processes need fixing.
Example: month-end close
Daily operating census (average)
91.4
Midnight counts averaged over the month.
Accounting resident days ÷ days
90.1
Billable days only; bed holds and private-pay gaps treated per policy.
Budget assumption
93.0
Set in the prior year from a different definition.
- Which number governs?
- Operator Authority
- Governing Record
- SeniorCRE Intelligence
- Execution
Illustrative figures. Governance first. Intelligence second. Execution last.
Variance analysis that compares numbers built on different definitions explains definitions, not performance.
The governance question
Finance needs to know not only the number but its authority: which source it came from, which definition applies, what was adjusted, and who approved the adjustment. That is provenance, and it should be inspectable before the number is used.
Evidence → Disagreement → Authority → Governing Record
What good operating infrastructure should do
- Provenance for every operating number finance consumes.
- Documented adjustments with original values preserved.
- Shared, approved definitions between operations and finance.
- Continuous reconciliation instead of month-end spreadsheet work.
- A clear marker of which KPIs rest on governed data.
SeniorCRE perspective
SeniorCRE is designed to give finance a governing number with its lineage attached: sources, definition, adjustments and the approving authority. The aim is to reconcile once under governed rules and stop re-reconciling downstream. Status: the Governed Operating Record is designed and not yet implemented in any community. What has been built, validated and deployed is published on the evidence page, and nothing here should be read as a production result.