Source Authority
Which system should be authoritative for financial data?
Last reviewed
Direct answer
The general ledger is normally authoritative for booked financial results, and the billing system for charges and receivables. Many financial measures depend on operating inputs such as census, care level and hours, whose authoritative sources sit outside finance. Financial authority covers what was booked. The operator still governs the operating inputs those figures are built from.
Why this happens
Financial statements can be accurate as booked and still rest on census or care-level inputs that were never reconciled.
Separating "authoritative for booked results" from "authoritative for operating inputs" makes clear where finance depends on operations.
Example: authority depends on the decision
Clinical system
Authoritative for level of care
Assessments are recorded and signed there.
Billing system
Authoritative for the rate billed
The contract and payer terms are applied there.
Payroll
Authoritative for hours paid
It is the system of record for compensation.
- Which number governs?
- Operator Authority
- Governing Record
- SeniorCRE Intelligence
- Execution
Illustrative figures. Governance first. Intelligence second. Execution last.
No single system is authoritative for everything. Authority is assigned per field and per decision.
The governance question
Authority is an organizational decision that software should record, not invent. When the authoritative source is wrong, the right response is a documented override with the original value preserved, not a silent edit.
Evidence → Disagreement → Authority → Governing Record
What good operating infrastructure should do
- Per-field, per-decision authority rules approved by named owners.
- Visible authority: users can see which source governs a number.
- Override workflows that capture reason, approver and time.
- Original values preserved after every override.
- Periodic review of authority rules as systems change.
SeniorCRE perspective
SeniorCRE’s architecture records authority as a rule the operator approves, applies it when sources disagree, and keeps the overridden value with its reason and approver. Software can recommend; only the operator’s authority decides what governs. 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.