Finance can make topside adjustments that do not impact the lower level detail

Description

Topside adjustments in Corporate Performance Management (CPM) pertain to the ability to make high-level changes that reflect in summary reports without altering the underlying detail data. This is helpful when making executive level decisions on data while maintaining department-level data submissions.

Example Use Case

Scenario: A multinational corporation uses CPM software for planning and budgeting. Occasionally, the finance team receives instructions from senior executives to incorporate strategic adjustments at the company level, such as a 5% increase in revenue projection due to a new product being launched.

Solution: The CPM software has a topside adjustment feature, which enables the finance team to initiate a 5% increment in the overall revenue forecast. This adjustment is reflected in the summary reports but does not modify the detailed product / location forecast submissions from the sales team. This ensures a seamless consolidation process without disturbing meticulous operational planning.

Considerations

Topside adjustments happen in nearly every budget cycle. CEOs, CFOs and so on have an initiative in mind that has not been communicated to the lower level managers, have a vision for the impact of that initiative. They want to see it now, without updated the submissions from 20 different sales managers. Topside adjustments are excellent at solving for that.

Be aware that some systems will overwrite your topside adjustments should a user at the lower levels enter more data. It may recalculate and eliminate your topside. To prevent that, we recommend creating a “topside version” where only core finance users have access. Other systems have methods to prevent this as a rule. Investigate this if it is important to you.

Questions to Ask a Vendor

• Adjustment Capabilities: Which fields are available to hit with a topside adjustment? Is it only top level information, or can we adjust something in the middle of a dimension like a product category?
• Impact on Detail Data: Will topside adjustments alter the underlying detail data in any way? If not, how does the system ensure this?
• Audit Trail: Does your system maintain a well-defined audit trail for all topside adjustments made?
• Overrides: If a user makes a post-topside adjustment entry into lower-level detail, will the topside adjustment change?