Finance Reconciliation
Site and Finance may differ — but you should know exactly why.
Foras keeps captured project cost and Finance actuals visible side by side, shows the cumulative difference, and records the commercial decision used to explain or settle it.
Finance remains authoritative for posted actuals. Foras makes the project-control difference explainable.
Northgate Logistics Park — Phase 2
Position · Aug 2026 · Demo data
Captured
£11.85m
Finance
£10.47m
Adjusted CTD
£11.97m
| Cost code | DiffDifference | CTDAdjusted CTD | Decision |
|---|---|---|---|
| 150Project Management | £60k | £1.84m | Timing |
| 210Labour | £262k | £2.96m | Decision needed |
| 311Shoring | −£115k | £1.54m | Match Finance |
| 707Subcontract | £158k | £3.18m | Needs review |
Difference = Captured − Finance. A negative difference means captured cost sits below Finance. Shoring shows a Match Finance adjustment of +£115,000, so adjusted CTD equals the Finance position to date. Values rounded for display.
Two legitimate views
The difference is normal. An unexplained difference is the problem.
Finance actuals
What has been posted into the accounting ledger and period. Authoritative for posted actuals, and the figure the business reports on.
Project position
What the project team has captured — labour, plant, supply and subcontract activity — and needs in order to control the job commercially, before everything is posted.
- Timing
- Work is done and captured on site before the supplier invoice or internal cost is posted.
- Cut-off
- The project week and the Finance period do not end on the same day.
- Allocation
- Finance posts to a different cost code, or to none, until the coding is agreed.
- Late cost
- Invoices, credits and internal recharges arrive after the project already reported the position.
- Corrections
- Reclassifications and journal corrections move cost after the original posting.
Reconciliation should preserve both views and explain the gap — not overwrite one with the other.
Period attribution
Reconcile cost in the period Finance actually posted it.
Foras derives the reconciliation period for each Finance transaction using a clear priority order, and shows which source field determined it.
- 1
Accounting period
Used whenever your ERP supplies it. Not every system does.
- 2
Finance posting date
Used when no accounting period is provided with the transaction.
- 3
Transaction date
The final fallback when neither of the above is available.
- Finance posting date
- 30 Jun 2026
- Transaction date
- 2 Jul 2026
- Reconciles in
- June 2026 — Finance posted it in June
If an accounting period is supplied, it takes priority over the posting date. Raw source dates stay visible — Foras derives the reconciliation period without rewriting them.
The Position
One position shows where Site and Finance differ.
Review the cumulative cost position at the level where a commercial decision can actually be made.
Northgate Logistics Park — Phase 2
Position · Aug 2026 · Demo data
Captured
£11.85m
Finance
£10.47m
Adjusted CTD
£11.97m
| Cost code | Captured | Finance | DiffDifference | Adjustments | CTDAdjusted CTD | Decision |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 150Project Management | £1.84m | £1.78m | £60k | — | £1.84m | Timing |
| 210Labour | £2.96m | £2.70m | £262k | — | £2.96m | Decision needed |
| 311Shoring | £1.43m | £1.54m | −£115k | +£115k | £1.54m | Match Finance |
| 707Subcontract | £3.18m | £3.02m | £158k | — | £3.18m | Needs review |
Difference = Captured − Finance. A negative difference means captured cost sits below Finance. Shoring shows a Match Finance adjustment of +£115,000, so adjusted CTD equals the Finance position to date. Values rounded for display.
- Captured
- Project cost recorded through site and commercial capture.
- Finance
- Actuals posted in Finance for the canonical reconciliation period.
- Difference
- Captured − Finance. Negative means captured cost sits below Finance.
- Adjustments
- Reconciliation entries recorded by a decision, shown separately.
- Adjusted CTD
- Captured cost plus recorded adjustments — the position you control to.
Each figure is supported by the underlying records behind it: Foras provides read-only evidence of the captured cost and Finance transactions that make up a position, so a number can be explained rather than argued about.
Position decisions
Decide what the difference means — not how to hide it.
| Decision | What it means | Financial effect | Resulting position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Timing | The difference is expected timing. Nothing needs settling yet. | No adjustment is posted. | Adjusted CTD stays at the captured (or previously adjusted) position. |
| Match Finance | Finance is authoritative to date for this position. | One adjustment is posted, equal to Finance TD − Captured TD. | Adjusted CTD matches the Finance position to date. |
Decisions are stored with a basis
A decision records the position it was made against. If captured cost or Finance moves afterwards, the row becomes Needs review — the earlier decision is never silently applied to new figures. Positions that already match Finance need no further decision.
- Captured TD
- £1,426,700
- Finance TD
- £1,541,700
- Difference (Captured − Finance)
- −£115,000
- Match Finance adjustment
- +£115,000
- Adjusted CTD
- £1,541,700
Safeguards
Not every difference should be matched.
- Configured accrual cost codeAccrual · Timing only
- Accrual codes stay visible in Finance actuals but are excluded from the Match Finance adjustment basis, so they remain Timing only. Which codes behave this way is financial policy you configure, not something Foras decides.
- Unclassified costDecision unavailable
- Cost that has not been classified to a position cannot be decided yet. Classify it first, then the decision becomes available.
- Position already matches FinanceNo decision required
- Where captured cost and Finance already agree to date, no decision is required and none is requested.
Where an action is unavailable, Foras states the reason rather than leaving a dead-end status on the row.
Work breakdown
On WBS projects, reconcile the position at WBS + Cost Item.
WBS is optional and set per project. Where it is used, the same cost code can represent genuinely different commercial positions in different areas of the works.
- The parent cost code gives orientation. Where it splits across more than one WBS element, each leaf is decided independently.
- Unassigned WBS stays visible as its own position rather than being guessed or spread across areas.
- Match Finance requires Finance to be attributed to that WBS leaf. Until it is, Timing remains available and the reason the Match Finance adjustment is unavailable is shown on the row.
- Accrual positions remain Timing only at leaf level too.
Cost code 311 — Shoring
Position by WBS · Aug 2026 · Demo data
Parent cost code · Captured £1,426,700 · Finance £1,541,700 · orientation only, decisions are made on each leaf below.
| WBS element + Cost Item | Captured | Finance | Difference | Decision |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 02.10 Retaining Walls | £812,400 | £927,400 | −£115,000 | Match Finance |
| 03.20 Bridge Abutments | £498,300 | £471,900 | £26,400 | Timing |
| Unassigned WBSFinance must be attributed to a WBS before Match Finance can be used. | £116,000 | £142,400 | −£26,400 | Timing |
Period close
Close the period from the same Position you reviewed.
Close readiness is measured against the same position rows the commercial team worked on — not a separate hidden checklist.
- Timing
- 8 positions
- Match Finance
- 5 positions
- Decision needed
- 1 blocker
- Position changed
- 1 blocker
- Timing difference remaining open
- £322,800
Informational. A legitimate Timing decision can leave a difference open — Foras does not pretend it has disappeared.
An undecided position, or one flagged Needs review because its basis moved, is outstanding work and is listed as a blocker.
Closing and locking a reconciliation period is project reconciliation-period control. It is not an accounting close, and it does not post anything into your ledger.
Late postings
If Finance changes a locked period later, the cost does not disappear.
June is locked. A July import contains a Finance transaction whose canonical period is June. Foras surfaces it as a late posting for review rather than absorbing it silently or reclassifying it automatically.
Reopen June
The period is reopened with a recorded reason, the transaction reconciles in the period Finance posted it, and affected positions return for review.
Recognise in the current period
June stays locked and the cost is recognised in the current open period, with the reason recorded so the treatment can be explained later.
Both routes require a reason and remain visible afterwards. Source accounting, posting and transaction dates are never rewritten.
Audit
The audit should explain the commercial decision.
Not just that a record changed — what was decided, on what basis, by whom, and what financial effect followed.
Position decision history
Aug 2026 · Demo data
311 Shoring · WBS 02.10 Retaining Walls
Match Finance- Captured TD
- £812,400
- Finance TD
- £927,400
- Difference TD
- −£115,000
- Adjustment
- +£115,000
- Adjusted CTD
- £927,400
Decided by Commercial Manager · 28 Aug 2026
150 Project Management
Timing- Captured TD
- £1,842,300
- Finance TD
- £1,781,900
- Difference TD
- £60,400
- Adjustment
- No adjustment
- Adjusted CTD
- £1,842,300
Decided by Commercial Manager · 28 Aug 2026
A Timing decision reads as no adjustment, not a £0 entry pretending to be a settlement. Where a decision is later superseded, the previous decision stays in history.
Related guide
Why your construction project cost position doesn’t match Finance
A project cost position rarely matches Finance actuals to the penny — and it shouldn’t. The commercial risk sits in the part of the difference nobody can explain.
Bring your month-end cost position. We’ll show you where the differences become explainable.
Use the way you currently compare project cost with Finance. We’ll map the same position into Foras and show how timing, Match Finance adjustment and review decisions are recorded.