A monthly client report with checked figures
By Matt Hertel ·
A monthly client report starts with reconciled figures. Freeze the reporting period, check the source totals and only then draft the explanation. Every claim in the commentary needs support. A reviewer approves the exact report and recipient before it goes out.
This is a fictional example. The figures below belong to an invented client, Birch Books. They show arithmetic and review rules, not a ViableCloud result.
Freeze the source and period
The example uses a fictional enquiry export for June and July. Each row has an enquiry ID, received date, channel and qualified status. Both exports use the same time zone and the same qualification rule. A second export contains spend by channel.
The checked totals are:
| Figure | June | July |
|---|---|---|
| Enquiries | 100 | 120 |
| Qualified enquiries | 30 | 36 |
| Spend | £2,000 | £2,400 |
| Qualified share | 30% | 30% |
| Spend per qualified enquiry | £66.67 | £66.67 |
Enquiries rose by 20%. Qualified enquiries also rose by 20%. The share and cost per qualified enquiry stayed the same at the displayed precision. More enquiries alone does not show better efficiency.
Record the export date, period, source and row count. Deduplicate by the agreed enquiry ID before calculating. Do not silently remove similar names. Keep rejected rows and their reason in a separate list.
Draft only what the figures support
July recorded 120 enquiries, up from 100 in June. Of those, 36 were qualified, compared with 30. The qualified share remained 30%. Spend rose in the same proportion, so spend per qualified enquiry remained about £66.67. These figures do not tell us which change caused the increase. Next, check the channel breakdown before deciding what to repeat.
That is a finished commentary draft. It does not claim revenue, return on spend or causation from enquiry counts. If revenue is needed, add an approved revenue source and an agreed matching rule first.
Instructions you can reuse
Use the supplied checked totals and source notes. Recalculate percentages and cost per qualified enquiry. Show the formula and inputs for each calculation. Draft a short client summary. Separate observed changes from possible explanations. Do not invent causes, targets, missing figures or recommendations to increase spend. List anything that prevents a fair comparison.
Keep the calculation separate from the prose. A fluent summary can still carry the wrong denominator. Have the report owner check the arithmetic before they read the explanation.
Missing data must stay missing
A missing July export is not a month with zero enquiries. A zero denominator means a rate cannot be calculated; display “not available” and explain why. If qualification changed halfway through July, do not compare the percentages without a note and a decision from the owner.
Late-arriving rows need an explicit revision. Keep the previous version and record what changed. Do not overwrite a report already approved and leave its old approval attached.
Check the report and the send
Use a checklist: correct client, period, time zone, definition, row counts, duplicate handling, totals, rates, rounding and supported commentary. Then check the destination contact and attachments. These are two decisions, so store both.
Run past examples containing a zero denominator, missing month, duplicate ID, changed definition and mixed currencies. None should produce a confident comparison from incompatible data. Currency conversion needs an agreed source and date; do not quietly add unlike amounts.
The report owner approves the exact report version. After sending, record the message reference. If delivery is uncertain, inspect the sent record before retrying. Do not send an old attachment with a corrected email body.
The job is finished when the approved report reaches the approved destination and its reference is recorded. Use client onboarding to settle owners and reporting inputs earlier. The support reply example shows how to handle a client question that needs a person.
Keep a record of the finish
Record the source version, draft version, reviewer, decision and time. A correction changes the draft version and cancels the earlier approval. Save the final destination and its reference separately from the review decision.
If the last action fails, check the destination before trying again. A missing reply does not prove nothing happened. Keep the job on hold until its owner has checked. Never repeat a send or create a second record just to clear an error.
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