Perspective
One Written Definition for Every Figure the Board and the Regulator Both See
Risk figures that disagree usually trace back to terms that were never written down. We settle each definition first, so every report that follows gives the same answer.
4-minute read5 November 2026
In Brief
- Two reports on the same question can both be correct and still disagree. Each team counts the cut-off, the population or the unit in its own way, and the meeting is spent on reconciliation.
- We see four actions: write the definition behind each headline figure, name an owner, bridge the regulatory and management views by named items, and bring manual adjustments into the open.
- Thinqmesh starts a data and analytics engagement with definitions, then draws the figures from one source and delivers your first report without a spreadsheet in four weeks.
A finance director presents one figure for overdue lending to the board. The regulatory return filed that month shows another, and the risk committee's pack shows a third. Each was prepared carefully and each can be defended. Our view is that the cause is rarely a faulty system. It is a term that carries no definition, so every reader assumes the same word means the same thing.
Three Honest Numbers Come From Choices That Were Never Recorded
The disagreement starts with ordinary decisions. One team takes the position at the close of the last working day and another at the calendar month end. One view includes accounts written off but still under recovery, and another leaves them out. One report counts by borrower and another by facility. Each choice is sensible for its purpose.
The cost appears in the meeting. Skilled people spend the hour reconciling when they could be discussing the lending, and a new data platform reproduces the same disagreement faster. Definitions come first, and the platform then has something precise to implement.
Four Actions That Bring Your Reports Into Agreement
Each action is useful with the systems you run today, so the agreement is in place before any platform decision is taken.
Write Down the Definition Behind Each Headline Figure
Overdue, exposure, customer: each term gets a cut-off, a population, a unit, an amount and a source.
We take the three or four figures your board reads most and set the competing versions side by side. One team closes on the last working day and another on the calendar month end. One counts borrowers and another counts facilities. Once the choices are visible, they can be decided and recorded in one wording that every report inherits.
Get started
- Pick three figures from the last board pack that also appear in a regulatory return.
- Ask each preparer to write the cut-off, population, unit, amount and source.
Give Every Term an Owner With Authority to Decide
A data team can record a definition. A senior person in the using function can settle a dispute about it.
Each term has one named owner in the function that uses it, and a casting vote for terms shared by finance and risk. Any change to a product, a portfolio or a rule passes through that owner before a report changes, with the date recorded, so a break in a trend can be explained later.
Get started
- Name an owner for the first three terms.
- Agree who holds the casting vote when finance and risk differ.
Keep Both Views and Bridge Them by Named Items
A regulatory figure and a management figure can differ for good reasons, provided the difference is explained.
We write each view as its own defined term, drawn from a named source, and add a short standing schedule that moves from one to the other. This much is the cut-off difference, this much is the written-off population. A gap between two reports then becomes a line in a schedule, and the board discussion moves on to the lending.
Get started
- Write the bridge for one figure by hand, item by item.
- Agree which view each audience receives and label it plainly.
Bring Manual Adjustments Into the Open
A spreadsheet that corrects a known fault every month is a statement about the source.
We list every manual adjustment with its reason and its owner, and review the list on a schedule. Some adjustments disappear once the source is corrected, and the rest are made visible beside the total, so a reader knows which figures can be relied on today and which need further work.
Get started
- List the manual corrections applied to your last month-end pack.
- Record a reason and an owner for each, and review the list monthly.
How Thinqmesh Solves This
We begin with the definitions and the decisions your leadership makes each week. The design follows from that short list, and your accounting system stays the record.
- Week 1
Definitions Agreed in Writing
We set the competing versions of each figure side by side and settle them with the person who has authority to decide. Nothing is built before the wording is agreed.
- Week 2
One Source for Your Figures
Figures are drawn from your existing systems into one place, refreshed on a schedule. We show clearly which can be relied on today and which need further work.
- Week 3
Dashboards for the Decisions You Make
Three or four screens, each tied to a decision taken every week, with alerts when a figure passes a line you set.
- Week 4
Your First Report, With No Spreadsheet
The month-end report is produced for you, and we hand over so that your team can add the next one without us.
You finish with a written definition for each figure, a report produced without rebuilding, and a team able to extend it. The code and the data are yours.
