🧾 Incident Summary:
Discrepancies were identified between the Headcount report and the Management Accounts (MA) reporting figures. The headcount submission process also suffered from data entry issues, retrospective updates, and manual effort required to maintain alignment across periods.
🔍 Root Cause Analysis
1. Inconsistent Timing of Submissions
- Cause: Headcount submission is required earlier than the MA report.
- Effect: Late changes (e.g. joiners/leavers) are captured in MA but not in the Headcount report.
- Consequence: Reports do not match, undermining trust in the figures.
2. Differences in Ownership and Definition
- Cause: HR owns headcount data; Finance owns MA data.
- Effect: “Actual heads” differ between reports, with no unified reconciliation.
- HR Definition: Counts all individuals under employment, regardless of hours worked or work status (e.g. includes those on maternity leave, sabbatical, zero FTE).
- Finance Definition: Based on rounded FTE, typically excluding employees not actively working.
- Consequence: This is an active point of contention between key stakeholders and has led to persistent differences between the Headcount and MA reports, and has caused confusion and mistrust in the figures.
3. Submission Process Complexity
- Cause: Full datasets submitted monthly with manual entry.
- Effect: Errors in formulas, missing data, and inconsistent formatting.
- Consequence: Submission errors and increased reconciliation effort.
4. Manual Maintenance of Power BI Reporting
- Cause: Static period references in DAX measures.
- Effect: Report requires manual editing each month.
- Consequence: Delays in publishing and increased workload.
✅ Proposed Resolution & Preventative Actions
1. Clear Report Status Labelling
- Headcount report marked as
DRAFT until Management Reporting(7th day Date). - On the ‘7th’ day, status changes to
Reconciled with Management Reporting(Period Ref). - Any changes after this date are logged against the next period.
2. Move to ‘Changes-Only’ Submission Format
- Submitters will only report:
- New joiners
- Leavers
- Role changes (with start/end dates)
- Benefits:
- Reduced data entry burden
- Lower risk of formula breaks
- Improved auditability
3. Report Simplification
- Dynamic period logic implemented in Power BI to eliminate manual updates.
4. Acknowledgement of Reporting Differences
There are two strategic options moving forward:
- Accept that two definitions exist
→ Clearly label each one in reports, explaining the difference and ensuring users understand the purpose behind each. - Adopt one globally agreed definition
→ Define a single methodology and calculation rule for “actual headcount” to be used consistently across HR, Finance, and all reporting outputs.
Interim Recommendation:
Until a formal decision is made, continue to clearly annotate in reports to explain the methodological difference, while preparing for a potential transition to a single global standard.
📌 Status
- Incident closed with agreed process improvement and communication plan in place.
- Ownership clarified: HR remains lead for Headcount data; Finance owns MA data. Alignment is achieved via timing and labelling, not forced reconciliation.