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.
Aggregating actuals to a monthly reporting grainJoining budget and actual datasets correctlyUsing CTEs to structure a readable reporting queryApplying CASE logic for variance and exception handlingUsing date functions to align reporting periodsA 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.