| name | data-reconciliation |
| description | Recovering missing spreadsheet values by using totals, percentages, growth rates, and other mathematical constraints in tabular data. |
Data Reconciliation for Spreadsheets
Techniques for recovering missing values from financial and tabular data using mathematical constraints.
Core Principles
1. Row/Column Sum Constraints
When totals are provided, missing values can be recovered:
Missing = Total - Sum(Known Values)
Example: If a row sums to 1000 and you know 3 of 4 values (200, 300, 400), the missing value is:
Missing = 1000 - (200 + 300 + 400) = 100
2. Year-over-Year (YoY) Change Recovery
When you have percentage changes between periods:
Current = Previous × (1 + YoY_Change/100)
To recover a previous value from current:
Previous = Current / (1 + YoY_Change/100)
3. Percentage Share Recovery
When you know a value's share of the total:
Value = Total × (Share/100)
Example: If total budget is 50000 and a department's share is 20%:
Value = 50000 × 0.20 = 10000
4. Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR)
For multi-year growth analysis:
CAGR = ((End_Value / Start_Value)^(1/years) - 1) × 100
Example: If Year 1 was 1000 and Year 5 is 1500 (4 years of growth):
CAGR = ((1500/1000)^(1/4) - 1) × 100 = 10.67%
To recover a start or end value:
End = Start × (1 + CAGR/100)^years
Start = End / (1 + CAGR/100)^years
5. Cross-Validation
Always verify recovered values:
- Do row totals match column totals?
- Are percentage shares consistent?
- Do YoY changes recalculate correctly?
Recovery Strategy
- Identify constraints: What mathematical relationships exist?
- Find solvable cells: Which missing values have enough information?
- Solve in order: Some values may depend on others (chain dependencies)
- Validate: Check all constraints still hold
Chain Dependencies
Sometimes you must solve values in a specific order:
- Recover budget value A from Sheet 1
- Use A to calculate YoY percentage in Sheet 2
- Use that percentage to verify or calculate another value
Always map out dependencies before starting.
Common Patterns in Budget Data
| Constraint Type | Formula | When to Use |
|---|
| Sum to total | Missing = Total - Σ(known) | Missing one component |
| YoY forward | New = Old × (1 + %/100) | Know previous + change |
| YoY backward | Old = New / (1 + %/100) | Know current + change |
| Share of total | Part = Total × share% | Know total + percentage |
| CAGR | ((End/Start)^(1/n)-1)×100 | Multi-year growth rate |
