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A variance that is not the difference of the budget and the actual

variance-mismatchon by defaultJapanese / English

A table row whose variance is not the difference of its budget and actual

Example

How to fix

Check which of the budget, the actual and the variance is right, and correct the others.

Why it matters

In a table of budget, actual and variance, readers look at the variance column alone to see how far over or under budget each line went. When an actual figure is corrected and its variance is not, or a digit is copied wrong, the variance alone is off. When the headings name one budget column (Budget), one actual column (Actual) and one variance column (Variance, Difference, Over (under)), each row's actual less its budget is compared with the variance written. An amount marked -, −, ▲ or △, or written in brackets, is negative. Some tables write the variance the other way, as the budget less the actual, so the direction is the one most of the table's other rows follow (or, when no row of the table tells, the document's other tables); when the rows split evenly, nothing is said.

What it does not flag

A table whose headings do not name one budget, one actual and one variance column (an original and a revised budget side by side), a column of rates (Variance %, Rate, Ratio), a row whose cells are not amounts (—, 98.8%), and a row whose budget and actual are written in different units are not compared. A table whose rows split evenly between the two directions is not reported, and when two or more rows follow the other direction, the difference in direction alone is not reported. Amounts in thousands or millions, and bare numbers, are read as rounded, so a difference of one in the last digit is not reported.

Turning it off or relaxing it

This page is built from the rule's definition file:packages/chaff/rules/variance-mismatch.yaml