Problem
Explain how you would prepare a monthly variance report in SQL for a finance reporting workflow. Focus on how you align actuals and budget, choose the reporting grain, calculate dollar and percentage variance, and handle missing or zero values in a month-end process.
What This Tests
- Aggregating actuals to a monthly reporting grain
- Joining budget and actual datasets correctly
- Using CTEs to structure a readable reporting query
- Applying CASE logic for variance and exception handling
- Using date functions to align reporting periods
Expected Depth
A strong answer should cover both the SQL mechanics and the reporting controls. You should be able to describe the likely tables, the monthly aggregation step, the join logic, the variance formulas, and the validation checks you would perform before sharing the report.
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