Reconciling Discrepant Financial Data

MediumSQL & Data Manipulation00:00

Practice interviewer

Your interviewer

In session

Interviewer

Welcome to your interview.

The question is on your right: Reconciling Discrepant Financial Data. Take a moment with it first.

Talk your thinking through with me if you like - when you're confident, submit your answer and I'll grade it like a real screen (7/10 or better passes). Discussion and graded submissions share your five interviewer interactions, so spend them well.

You need to log in / sign up to chat or submit.

Problem

Reconcile discrepant financial data

You are given two related financial datasets that should align, but they contain discrepancies. Explain how you would use PostgreSQL SQL to reconcile them, identify the root causes of differences, and produce an output that a finance reviewer could use to investigate exceptions.

What This Tests

Matching records across datasets with joins
Standardizing fields before comparison
Aggregating to the correct reconciliation grain
Classifying discrepancies with CASE WHEN
Structuring logic clearly with CTEs

Finance Context

Think of comparing ERP transactions, subledger activity, and BlackLine-supported reconciliation outputs. The goal is not only to find differences, but to separate missing records, duplicates, timing issues, and amount mismatches in a way that is auditable.