DB Olympics

Queries · q093 · Head of Data · week 1, night 2

Payout net formula check via payment-linked refunds

“Once refunds are matched to the actual payments inside each payout (not just by calendar month), does net = gross - fee - refunds hold cleanly, confirming refunds are reflected once and only once in what we pay merchants?”

Manager · asked the questionRosa Van den BergHead of Data. Took over the analytics team last week. Before the team's numbers go to the board she wants to know how far they can be trusted.
Analyst · planned the reportYuki TanakaDetail-oriented: picks specific merchants, products or days and looks at them closely.
Engineer · wrote the SQLInesThinks in window functions: ranks, running totals, LAG/LEAD for comparisons, percent-of-total.

Fictional people at a fictional company, each played by a language-model agent. Who they are and what they are told

  1. A business event lands on the Head of Data's desk

    Week 1; shared with Tobias Lindqvist, Chief Financial Officer

    Before the board pack goes out, Data must certify the key metrics. Do revenue, orders, customers, refunds and payouts agree wherever they are recorded, and where they do not, why not and by how much?

    One of the 35 events we wrote for the role play; it shaped the manager's first note. How events arise · All the events

  2. Rosa Van den Berg writes to Yuki Tanaka

    The manager, at the start of week 1

    Subject: Certifying the key metrics before the board pack — what I need from you this week

    Hi Yuki,

    Tobias and I have to certify revenue, orders, customers, refunds and payouts before they go into the board pack. "Certify" means we're telling the board these numbers are reconcilable — so this week's job is to find out where the different places we record these figures agree, where they don't, and whether any gap is big enough to change the story we tell. If something doesn't reconcile, I need to know why and by how much, not just that it's "close enough." That feeds directly into the go/no-go Tobias and I give on the board pack, so please prioritize breadth across the five metrics over depth on any one of them — we can always dig deeper next week on whichever one looks shakiest.

    You only have a handful of report slots a night, so here's what matters most to me, roughly in priority order:

    1. If someone asks "what was our revenue last month," do we get the same answer regardless of which part of the business we ask? Where it diverges, how far apart are the answers, and is the gap explained by something sensible (timing, currency, returns) or does it look like a real inconsistency?
    2. Do our order counts and our revenue tell a consistent story — i.e., is there a clean, traceable link from an order to the money that was actually collected for it, or are there orders that seem to vanish or multiply along the way?
    3. Refunds and payouts: when money goes back to a customer, does it show up consistently as a reduction in revenue and in what we actually pay out to merchants? I want to know if refunds could be hiding or double-counted anywhere.
    4. Customers: can we count "how many customers we have" or "how many are active" in one consistent way, or do different parts of the data give meaningfully different headcounts?
    5. If you have a slot left: is there anything about how timestamps or currencies are handled that could quietly distort any of the above when we roll numbers up across time or across merchants?

    Please flag anything you find inconsistent together with your best read of why, and roughly how big the discrepancy is in practice — that's what Tobias and I need to decide whether we can certify as-is, certify with a caveat, or need to hold a number back.

    Thank you — I know this is a lot for one week. Let's talk before you spend your first slot tonight if you want to sanity-check the plan.

    Rosa

    A note from the Chief Financial Officer, Tobias Lindqvist

    Subject: What I need for the revenue/payout certification

    Hi Yuki,

    A few things from my side as you scope this week's work:

    1. Does our reported revenue tie out end to end? I want to know whether what we book as platform fees and processing fees matches what actually settles to us through payouts — and if there's a gap, roughly how large it is and whether it's timing (month-end cutoff) or something structural.
    2. Do merchant payouts reconcile to the gross volume and refunds we report? I'm particularly interested in whether net payouts consistently equal gross sales minus refunds minus our fees, or whether certain merchants/currencies show persistent drift.
    3. Are our B2B wholesalers' outstanding receivables consistent with what we'd show in the annual accounts? I want to understand how much is genuinely overdue versus just lagging normal payment terms, since that affects how we present them.

    If anything else jumps out while you're in there — especially around currency conversion timing or refund treatment — flag it even if it's outside these three.

    Thanks, Tobias

  3. Yuki Tanaka plans the night

    The analyst · week 1, night 2, request 3 of 3

    Night 1 surfaced three things worth running down before I widen scope further: (1) orders_booked_revenue is consistently 15-40% above captured payments, and critically this gap does NOT shrink for old cohorts (e.g. 2023-04 orders are 2.5 years old and still show a 39% gap, 2025-01 orders are a year old and still show 15.5%) — that rules out simple timing lag and points to a structural cause (orders that never convert to a captured payment, e.g. abandoned/declined/cancelled), which matters a lot for "revenue" certification if orders.grand_total is ever quoted as revenue. I want to confirm this is explained by order status rather than something stranger. (2) invoice_paid_revenue is much smaller than order revenue and I'm not yet sure whether it's incremental (subscription billing on top of orders) or overlapping (already counted inside order revenue) — that changes whether we're under- or double-counting. (3) Report 3's net_check_diff_eur (net vs gross-fee) is large and growing, but shrinks a lot once refunds are subtracted too, suggesting the true formula is net ≈ gross - fee - refunds and refunds aren't double-counted — but I matched refunds by calendar month only, which is a loose proxy and leaves real noise (-6k to +21k swings). I want the structural, payment-linked version of that reconciliation via payout_items to see if the noise disappears, which would let us certify the payout formula with confidence rather than a caveat.

    Payout net formula check via payment-linked refunds
    Question
    Once refunds are matched to the actual payments inside each payout (not just by calendar month), does net = gross - fee - refunds hold cleanly, confirming refunds are reflected once and only once in what we pay merchants?
    One row per
    calendar month, 2023-01 through 2025-12, based on payout paid_at month
    Columns
    • month
    • payout_gross_eur
    • payout_fee_eur
    • payout_net_eur
    • linked_refunds_eur
    • implied_net_eur
    • diff_eur
    • diff_pct

  4. Ines writes the SQL

    The engineer · 1 dry run on the empty schema, then the submission

    Dry run 1 · STATUS: COMPILES (dry run on the empty schema, no data read)
    WITH payout_eur AS (
  SELECT
    po.id AS payout_id,
    cd.month_start,
    cd.month_label,
    CASE WHEN po.currency_code = 'EUR' THEN po.gross_amount ELSE po.gross_amount / er.rate END AS gross_eur,
    CASE WHEN po.currency_code = 'EUR' THEN po.fee_amount ELSE po.fee_amount / er.rate END AS fee_eur,
    CASE WHEN po.currency_code = 'EUR' THEN po.net_amount ELSE po.net_amount / er.rate END AS net_eur
  FROM payouts po
  JOIN calendar_days cd ON cd.calendar_date = CAST(po.paid_at AS date)
  LEFT JOIN exchange_rates er
    ON er.base_code = 'EUR'
    AND er.quote_code = po.currency_code
    AND er.as_of = cd.calendar_date
  WHERE po.paid_at >= DATE '2023-01-01' AND po.paid_at < DATE '2026-01-01'
),
refund_eur AS (
  SELECT
    po.id AS payout_id,
    CASE WHEN pr.currency_code = 'EUR' THEN pr.amount ELSE pr.amount / er.rate END AS refund_eur
  FROM payouts po
  JOIN payout_items pi ON pi.payout_id = po.id
  JOIN payment_refunds pr ON pr.payment_id = pi.payment_id AND pr.status = 'succeeded'
  LEFT JOIN exchange_rates er
    ON er.base_code = 'EUR'
    AND er.quote_code = pr.currency_code
    AND er.as_of = CAST(pr.processed_at AS date)
  WHERE po.paid_at >= DATE '2023-01-01' AND po.paid_at < DATE '2026-01-01'
),
payout_month_agg AS (
  SELECT month_start, month_label,
    SUM(gross_eur) AS payout_gross_eur,
    SUM(fee_eur) AS payout_fee_eur,
    SUM(net_eur) AS payout_net_eur
  FROM payout_eur
  GROUP BY month_start, month_label
),
refund_month_agg AS (
  SELECT pe.month_start, pe.month_label, SUM(re.refund_eur) AS linked_refunds_eur
  FROM refund_eur re
  JOIN (SELECT DISTINCT payout_id, month_start, month_label FROM payout_eur) pe ON pe.payout_id = re.payout_id
  GROUP BY pe.month_start, pe.month_label
),
months AS (
  SELECT DISTINCT month_start, month_label FROM calendar_days
  WHERE month_start >= DATE '2023-01-01' AND month_start <= DATE '2025-12-01'
)
SELECT
  m.month_label AS month,
  ROUND(COALESCE(pg.payout_gross_eur,0),2) AS payout_gross_eur,
  ROUND(COALESCE(pg.payout_fee_eur,0),2) AS payout_fee_eur,
  ROUND(COALESCE(pg.payout_net_eur,0),2) AS payout_net_eur,
  ROUND(COALESCE(rf.linked_refunds_eur,0),2) AS linked_refunds_eur,
  ROUND(COALESCE(pg.payout_gross_eur,0) - COALESCE(pg.payout_fee_eur,0) - COALESCE(rf.linked_refunds_eur,0),2) AS implied_net_eur,
  ROUND(COALESCE(pg.payout_net_eur,0) - (COALESCE(pg.payout_gross_eur,0) - COALESCE(pg.payout_fee_eur,0) - COALESCE(rf.linked_refunds_eur,0)),2) AS diff_eur,
  ROUND(
    CASE WHEN COALESCE(pg.payout_net_eur,0) = 0 THEN NULL
    ELSE (COALESCE(pg.payout_net_eur,0) - (COALESCE(pg.payout_gross_eur,0) - COALESCE(pg.payout_fee_eur,0) - COALESCE(rf.linked_refunds_eur,0))) / pg.payout_net_eur * 100
    END, 1) AS diff_pct
FROM months m
LEFT JOIN payout_month_agg pg ON pg.month_start = m.month_start
LEFT JOIN refund_month_agg rf ON rf.month_start = m.month_start
ORDER BY m.month_start

    “Query compiles cleanly with the expected 8 columns at monthly grain. Submitting.”

    Submitted · the SQL of the last dry run, unchanged · Submitted to tonight's batch. Your work on this request is done.

    “Submitted. The report builds a full 2023-01–2025-12 month series, aggregates payout gross/fee/net in EUR by paid_at month, separately sums payment-linked refunds (via payout_items→payments→payment_refunds, status='succeeded') converted to EUR by each refund's own processed_at date, then computes the implied net and the diff/diff_pct versus actual payout net — exactly as specified.”

  5. The report comes back overnight

    As Yuki Tanaka saw it, from the small dataset the agents worked on

    month   | payout_gross_eur | payout_fee_eur | payout_net_eur | linked_refunds_eur | implied_net_eur |  diff_eur | diff_pct
--------+------------------+----------------+----------------+--------------------+-----------------+-----------+---------
2023-01 |         94732.34 |        2358.26 |       89903.02 |           18424.65 |        73949.42 |   15953.6 |     17.7
2023-02 |        123011.03 |        2769.23 |      109079.28 |           11395.32 |       108846.49 |    232.79 |      0.2
2023-03 |        149703.05 |        3435.59 |      133587.23 |           19926.41 |       126341.05 |   7246.18 |      5.4
2023-04 |        138160.74 |         3227.3 |      112840.52 |           20267.35 |       114666.08 |  -1825.57 |     -1.6
2023-05 |        184243.19 |        4105.88 |      166767.36 |           16655.13 |       163482.17 |   3285.19 |      2.0
2023-06 |        116824.01 |        2853.18 |       99170.22 |           12630.82 |       101340.01 |   -2169.8 |     -2.2
2023-07 |        123832.57 |        2904.58 |      106823.44 |           12360.29 |       108567.71 |  -1744.27 |     -1.6
2023-08 |        146639.74 |        3253.97 |      129619.57 |           13411.78 |       129973.99 |   -354.43 |     -0.3
2023-09 |        179187.78 |         3957.2 |      161373.01 |           16827.87 |       158402.71 |    2970.3 |      1.8
2023-10 |         161532.9 |        3908.69 |      139980.97 |           20510.11 |        137114.1 |   2866.87 |      2.0
2023-11 |         374749.1 |        9037.78 |      337886.81 |           65953.12 |        299758.2 |  38128.61 |     11.3
2023-12 |        315250.22 |        7209.32 |      255711.71 |           40591.28 |       267449.62 | -11737.91 |     -4.6
2024-01 |        214636.14 |        5121.57 |      158334.74 |           28614.61 |       180899.95 | -22565.21 |    -14.3
2024-02 |        212084.59 |        5539.86 |      181653.19 |           16154.98 |       190389.75 |  -8736.56 |     -4.8
2024-03 |        304127.23 |        8182.78 |       279016.0 |           24766.99 |       271177.46 |   7838.55 |      2.8
2024-04 |        208772.66 |         5249.7 |      177512.11 |           24153.48 |       179369.48 |  -1857.37 |     -1.0
2024-05 |        211560.68 |        5641.83 |      185379.99 |           19649.83 |       186269.03 |   -889.04 |     -0.5
2024-06 |        192822.09 |        4767.01 |      166258.72 |           20773.68 |       167281.39 |  -1022.67 |     -0.6
2024-07 |        227390.96 |        5620.38 |      199746.14 |           39117.94 |       182652.63 |  17093.51 |      8.6
2024-08 |        189437.39 |        4710.35 |       163007.2 |           17924.01 |       166803.03 |  -3795.83 |     -2.3
2024-09 |        236448.09 |        5717.95 |      213008.92 |           18183.84 |       212546.29 |    462.63 |      0.2
2024-10 |        264461.29 |        6290.06 |      228906.86 |           35648.18 |       222523.05 |   6383.82 |      2.8
2024-11 |        317582.24 |        7443.25 |      279036.62 |           53387.35 |       256751.64 |  22284.98 |      8.0
2024-12 |        510885.63 |       11829.11 |      424628.34 |           91959.47 |       407097.05 |  17531.29 |      4.1
2025-01 |         336997.3 |        7925.21 |      253932.01 |            33021.1 |       296050.99 | -42118.98 |    -16.6
2025-02 |        280023.05 |        6459.16 |      243182.77 |           16981.73 |       256582.16 | -13399.39 |     -5.5
2025-03 |        255837.34 |        5985.68 |      223413.62 |            35238.5 |       214613.16 |   8800.46 |      3.9
2025-04 |        340937.07 |        7828.37 |      304687.99 |           32404.13 |       300704.57 |   3983.42 |      1.3
2025-05 |        334528.07 |        7178.24 |       278317.0 |           56865.11 |       270484.73 |   7832.27 |      2.8
2025-06 |        229136.55 |        5713.03 |      184551.27 |           23587.61 |       199835.92 | -15284.65 |     -8.3
2025-07 |        239376.66 |        6028.64 |      203551.42 |           24232.38 |       209115.63 |  -5564.21 |     -2.7
2025-08 |        259058.79 |        6808.71 |      225922.27 |           48273.05 |       203977.03 |  21945.24 |      9.7
2025-09 |        259147.15 |        5871.99 |      227184.81 |           34190.15 |       219085.01 |    8099.8 |      3.6
2025-10 |         351845.4 |        8090.78 |      304170.97 |           50124.36 |       293630.26 |  10540.71 |      3.5
2025-11 |        471485.44 |       11427.35 |      412663.97 |           66072.53 |       393985.55 |  18678.41 |      4.5
2025-12 |        614615.16 |       14266.05 |      493277.91 |           71214.53 |       529134.58 | -35856.67 |     -7.3
(36 rows)

  6. What came of it

    The memo and the queries that followed; links found by title, so inferred

    Later queries that build on this report:

    It builds on:

  7. It becomes benchmark query q093

    Changed only where the benchmark needs the same result on every system

    • determinismtie-breaker: (m.month_start, m.month_label, pg.month_label, rf.month_label) is a key of the join result; month_start does not determine month_label in the schema
    • numericsdocs/NUMERICS.md: rounding removed; results keep full precision
    • numericsdocs/NUMERICS.md: x / exchange rate cast to NUMERIC(18,6) (4×)
    • made explicita selected t.col gets AS col, its standard name made explicit (4×)
    • determinismthe standard leaves the place of NULLs in a sort to the implementation: NULLS LAST ascending, NULLS FIRST descending, as in the reference results (4×)
    The benchmark text, against the submitted SQL
    WITH payout_eur AS (  SELECT    po.id AS payout_id,    cd.month_start,    cd.month_label,    CASE WHEN po.currency_code = 'EUR' THEN po.gross_amount ELSE po.gross_amount / er.rate END AS gross_eur,    CASE WHEN po.currency_code = 'EUR' THEN po.fee_amount ELSE po.fee_amount / er.rate END AS fee_eur,    CASE WHEN po.currency_code = 'EUR' THEN po.net_amount ELSE po.net_amount / er.rate END AS net_eur    cd.month_start AS month_start,    cd.month_label AS month_label,    CASE WHEN po.currency_code = 'EUR' THEN po.gross_amount ELSE CAST(po.gross_amount / er.rate AS NUMERIC(18,6)) END AS gross_eur,    CASE WHEN po.currency_code = 'EUR' THEN po.fee_amount ELSE CAST(po.fee_amount / er.rate AS NUMERIC(18,6)) END AS fee_eur,    CASE WHEN po.currency_code = 'EUR' THEN po.net_amount ELSE CAST(po.net_amount / er.rate AS NUMERIC(18,6)) END AS net_eur  FROM payouts po  JOIN calendar_days cd ON cd.calendar_date = CAST(po.paid_at AS date)  LEFT JOIN exchange_rates er    ON er.base_code = 'EUR'    AND er.quote_code = po.currency_code    AND er.as_of = cd.calendar_date  WHERE po.paid_at >= DATE '2023-01-01' AND po.paid_at < DATE '2026-01-01'),refund_eur AS (  SELECT    po.id AS payout_id,    CASE WHEN pr.currency_code = 'EUR' THEN pr.amount ELSE pr.amount / er.rate END AS refund_eur    CASE WHEN pr.currency_code = 'EUR' THEN pr.amount ELSE CAST(pr.amount / er.rate AS NUMERIC(18,6)) END AS refund_eur  FROM payouts po  JOIN payout_items pi ON pi.payout_id = po.id  JOIN payment_refunds pr ON pr.payment_id = pi.payment_id AND pr.status = 'succeeded'  LEFT JOIN exchange_rates er    ON er.base_code = 'EUR'    AND er.quote_code = pr.currency_code    AND er.as_of = CAST(pr.processed_at AS date)  WHERE po.paid_at >= DATE '2023-01-01' AND po.paid_at < DATE '2026-01-01'),payout_month_agg AS (  SELECT month_start, month_label,    SUM(gross_eur) AS payout_gross_eur,    SUM(fee_eur) AS payout_fee_eur,    SUM(net_eur) AS payout_net_eur  FROM payout_eur  GROUP BY month_start, month_label),refund_month_agg AS (  SELECT pe.month_start, pe.month_label, SUM(re.refund_eur) AS linked_refunds_eur  SELECT pe.month_start AS month_start, pe.month_label AS month_label, SUM(re.refund_eur) AS linked_refunds_eur  FROM refund_eur re  JOIN (SELECT DISTINCT payout_id, month_start, month_label FROM payout_eur) pe ON pe.payout_id = re.payout_id  GROUP BY pe.month_start, pe.month_label),months AS (  SELECT DISTINCT month_start, month_label FROM calendar_days  WHERE month_start >= DATE '2023-01-01' AND month_start <= DATE '2025-12-01')SELECT  m.month_label AS month,  ROUND(COALESCE(pg.payout_gross_eur,0),2) AS payout_gross_eur,  ROUND(COALESCE(pg.payout_fee_eur,0),2) AS payout_fee_eur,  ROUND(COALESCE(pg.payout_net_eur,0),2) AS payout_net_eur,  ROUND(COALESCE(rf.linked_refunds_eur,0),2) AS linked_refunds_eur,  ROUND(COALESCE(pg.payout_gross_eur,0) - COALESCE(pg.payout_fee_eur,0) - COALESCE(rf.linked_refunds_eur,0),2) AS implied_net_eur,  ROUND(COALESCE(pg.payout_net_eur,0) - (COALESCE(pg.payout_gross_eur,0) - COALESCE(pg.payout_fee_eur,0) - COALESCE(rf.linked_refunds_eur,0)),2) AS diff_eur,  ROUND(    CASE WHEN COALESCE(pg.payout_net_eur,0) = 0 THEN NULL    ELSE (COALESCE(pg.payout_net_eur,0) - (COALESCE(pg.payout_gross_eur,0) - COALESCE(pg.payout_fee_eur,0) - COALESCE(rf.linked_refunds_eur,0))) / pg.payout_net_eur * 100    END, 1) AS diff_pct  COALESCE(pg.payout_gross_eur,0) AS payout_gross_eur,  COALESCE(pg.payout_fee_eur,0) AS payout_fee_eur,  COALESCE(pg.payout_net_eur,0) AS payout_net_eur,  COALESCE(rf.linked_refunds_eur,0) AS linked_refunds_eur,  COALESCE(pg.payout_gross_eur,0) - COALESCE(pg.payout_fee_eur,0) - COALESCE(rf.linked_refunds_eur,0) AS implied_net_eur,  COALESCE(pg.payout_net_eur,0) - (COALESCE(pg.payout_gross_eur,0) - COALESCE(pg.payout_fee_eur,0) - COALESCE(rf.linked_refunds_eur,0)) AS diff_eur,  CASE WHEN COALESCE(pg.payout_net_eur,0) = 0 THEN NULL  ELSE (COALESCE(pg.payout_net_eur,0) - (COALESCE(pg.payout_gross_eur,0) - COALESCE(pg.payout_fee_eur,0) - COALESCE(rf.linked_refunds_eur,0))) / pg.payout_net_eur * 100  END AS diff_pctFROM months mLEFT JOIN payout_month_agg pg ON pg.month_start = m.month_startLEFT JOIN refund_month_agg rf ON rf.month_start = m.month_startORDER BY m.month_startORDER BY m.month_start NULLS LAST, m.month_label NULLS LAST, pg.month_label NULLS LAST, rf.month_label NULLS LAST

    As each system received it; highlighted, the parts spelled for that system

    WITH payout_eur AS (
  SELECT
    po.id AS payout_id,
    cd.month_start AS month_start,
    cd.month_label AS month_label,
    CASE WHEN po.currency_code = 'EUR' THEN po.gross_amount ELSE CAST(po.gross_amount / er.rate AS NUMERIC(18,6)) END AS gross_eur,
    CASE WHEN po.currency_code = 'EUR' THEN po.fee_amount ELSE CAST(po.fee_amount / er.rate AS NUMERIC(18,6)) END AS fee_eur,
    CASE WHEN po.currency_code = 'EUR' THEN po.net_amount ELSE CAST(po.net_amount / er.rate AS NUMERIC(18,6)) END AS net_eur
  FROM payouts po
  JOIN calendar_days cd ON cd.calendar_date = CAST(po.paid_at AS date)
  LEFT JOIN exchange_rates er
    ON er.base_code = 'EUR'
    AND er.quote_code = po.currency_code
    AND er.as_of = cd.calendar_date
  WHERE po.paid_at >= DATE '2023-01-01' AND po.paid_at < DATE '2026-01-01'
),
refund_eur AS (
  SELECT
    po.id AS payout_id,
    CASE WHEN pr.currency_code = 'EUR' THEN pr.amount ELSE CAST(pr.amount / er.rate AS NUMERIC(18,6)) END AS refund_eur
  FROM payouts po
  JOIN payout_items pi ON pi.payout_id = po.id
  JOIN payment_refunds pr ON pr.payment_id = pi.payment_id AND pr.status = 'succeeded'
  LEFT JOIN exchange_rates er
    ON er.base_code = 'EUR'
    AND er.quote_code = pr.currency_code
    AND er.as_of = CAST(pr.processed_at AS date)
  WHERE po.paid_at >= DATE '2023-01-01' AND po.paid_at < DATE '2026-01-01'
),
payout_month_agg AS (
  SELECT month_start, month_label,
    SUM(gross_eur) AS payout_gross_eur,
    SUM(fee_eur) AS payout_fee_eur,
    SUM(net_eur) AS payout_net_eur
  FROM payout_eur
  GROUP BY month_start, month_label
),
refund_month_agg AS (
  SELECT pe.month_start AS month_start, pe.month_label AS month_label, SUM(re.refund_eur) AS linked_refunds_eur
  FROM refund_eur re
  JOIN (SELECT DISTINCT payout_id, month_start, month_label FROM payout_eur) pe ON pe.payout_id = re.payout_id
  GROUP BY pe.month_start, pe.month_label
),
months AS (
  SELECT DISTINCT month_start, month_label FROM calendar_days
  WHERE month_start >= DATE '2023-01-01' AND month_start <= DATE '2025-12-01'
)
SELECT
  m.month_label AS month,
  COALESCE(pg.payout_gross_eur,0) AS payout_gross_eur,
  COALESCE(pg.payout_fee_eur,0) AS payout_fee_eur,
  COALESCE(pg.payout_net_eur,0) AS payout_net_eur,
  COALESCE(rf.linked_refunds_eur,0) AS linked_refunds_eur,
  COALESCE(pg.payout_gross_eur,0) - COALESCE(pg.payout_fee_eur,0) - COALESCE(rf.linked_refunds_eur,0) AS implied_net_eur,
  COALESCE(pg.payout_net_eur,0) - (COALESCE(pg.payout_gross_eur,0) - COALESCE(pg.payout_fee_eur,0) - COALESCE(rf.linked_refunds_eur,0)) AS diff_eur,
  CASE WHEN COALESCE(pg.payout_net_eur,0) = 0 THEN NULL
  ELSE (COALESCE(pg.payout_net_eur,0) - (COALESCE(pg.payout_gross_eur,0) - COALESCE(pg.payout_fee_eur,0) - COALESCE(rf.linked_refunds_eur,0))) / pg.payout_net_eur * 100
  END AS diff_pct
FROM months m
LEFT JOIN payout_month_agg pg ON pg.month_start = m.month_start
LEFT JOIN refund_month_agg rf ON rf.month_start = m.month_start
ORDER BY m.month_start NULLS LAST, m.month_label NULLS LAST, pg.month_label NULLS LAST, rf.month_label NULLS LAST
    100 ms1 sHyper140 msDuckDB112 msGizmoSQL105 msclickhouse_brew435 msFirebolterrorDataFusion337 msClickHouseerror
    • Firebolt{ "errors": [ { "description": "Line 6, Column 87: Operations between decimals with different precision and scale is not supported at the moment. Explicitly cast one of the decimals to other decimal precision and scale." } ], "query": { "query_id": "8b189e2f-1cd7-4a1d-bcc4-e355815d73bb", "query_labe
    • ClickHouseCode: 69. DB::Exception: Decimal result's scale is less than argument's one: while executing function divide on arguments __table5.gross_amount Decimal(14, 4) Decimal64(size = 0), __table7.rate Nullable(Decimal(12, 6)) Nullable(size = 0, Decimal64(size = 0), UInt8(size = 0)). (ARGUMENT_OUT_OF_BOUND)

    Scale factor 1000, c8a.24xlarge, after the last load. q093 on the start page, with every configuration.

  8. Everything, as recorded

    The agents' own records, as the role play wrote them; only the personal data of the person who ran it is redacted

    Ines's whole session, 7 turns
    • The request, as Ines received it
      Report request from Yuki Tanaka (analyst for the Head of Data):

Title: Payout net formula check via payment-linked refunds
Question: Once refunds are matched to the actual payments inside each payout (not just by calendar month), does net = gross - fee - refunds hold cleanly, confirming refunds are reflected once and only once in what we pay merchants?
Grain: calendar month, 2023-01 through 2025-12, based on payout paid_at month
Columns:
- month
- payout_gross_eur
- payout_fee_eur
- payout_net_eur
- linked_refunds_eur
- implied_net_eur
- diff_eur
- diff_pct
Details: For each payout, identify its settled payments via payout_items (payout_items.payout_id = payouts.id, payout_items.payment_id = payments.id). linked_refunds_eur for a month = sum of payment_refunds.amount (status='succeeded') where payment_refunds.payment_id is one of the payments settled in a payout whose paid_at falls in that month, converted to EUR via exchange_rates using payment_refunds.currency_code and processed_at date (refunds counted regardless of when they were processed, i.e. a refund processed any time against a payment that ended up in this month's payout). payout_gross_eur/payout_fee_eur/payout_net_eur = sum of payouts.gross_amount/fee_amount/net_amount for payouts with paid_at in that month, converted to EUR via payouts.currency_code and paid_at date. implied_net_eur = payout_gross_eur - payout_fee_eur - linked_refunds_eur. diff_eur = payout_net_eur - implied_net_eur. diff_pct = diff_eur / payout_net_eur * 100, rounded to 1 decimal. Tables: payouts, payout_items, payments, payment_refunds, exchange_rates. Order by month ascending.

Check your query with the warehouse's dry_run tool, then hand it in with submit.
    • Ines calls dry_run
      WITH payout_eur AS (
  SELECT
    po.id AS payout_id,
    cd.month_start,
    cd.month_label,
    CASE WHEN po.currency_code = 'EUR' THEN po.gross_amount ELSE po.gross_amount / er.rate END AS gross_eur,
    CASE WHEN po.currency_code = 'EUR' THEN po.fee_amount ELSE po.fee_amount / er.rate END AS fee_eur,
    CASE WHEN po.currency_code = 'EUR' THEN po.net_amount ELSE po.net_amount / er.rate END AS net_eur
  FROM payouts po
  JOIN calendar_days cd ON cd.calendar_date = CAST(po.paid_at AS date)
  LEFT JOIN exchange_rates er
    ON er.base_code = 'EUR'
    AND er.quote_code = po.currency_code
    AND er.as_of = cd.calendar_date
  WHERE po.paid_at >= DATE '2023-01-01' AND po.paid_at < DATE '2026-01-01'
),
refund_eur AS (
  SELECT
    po.id AS payout_id,
    CASE WHEN pr.currency_code = 'EUR' THEN pr.amount ELSE pr.amount / er.rate END AS refund_eur
  FROM payouts po
  JOIN payout_items pi ON pi.payout_id = po.id
  JOIN payment_refunds pr ON pr.payment_id = pi.payment_id AND pr.status = 'succeeded'
  LEFT JOIN exchange_rates er
    ON er.base_code = 'EUR'
    AND er.quote_code = pr.currency_code
    AND er.as_of = CAST(pr.processed_at AS date)
  WHERE po.paid_at >= DATE '2023-01-01' AND po.paid_at < DATE '2026-01-01'
),
payout_month_agg AS (
  SELECT month_start, month_label,
    SUM(gross_eur) AS payout_gross_eur,
    SUM(fee_eur) AS payout_fee_eur,
    SUM(net_eur) AS payout_net_eur
  FROM payout_eur
  GROUP BY month_start, month_label
),
refund_month_agg AS (
  SELECT pe.month_start, pe.month_label, SUM(re.refund_eur) AS linked_refunds_eur
  FROM refund_eur re
  JOIN (SELECT DISTINCT payout_id, month_start, month_label FROM payout_eur) pe ON pe.payout_id = re.payout_id
  GROUP BY pe.month_start, pe.month_label
),
months AS (
  SELECT DISTINCT month_start, month_label FROM calendar_days
  WHERE month_start >= DATE '2023-01-01' AND month_start <= DATE '2025-12-01'
)
SELECT
  m.month_label AS month,
  ROUND(COALESCE(pg.payout_gross_eur,0),2) AS payout_gross_eur,
  ROUND(COALESCE(pg.payout_fee_eur,0),2) AS payout_fee_eur,
  ROUND(COALESCE(pg.payout_net_eur,0),2) AS payout_net_eur,
  ROUND(COALESCE(rf.linked_refunds_eur,0),2) AS linked_refunds_eur,
  ROUND(COALESCE(pg.payout_gross_eur,0) - COALESCE(pg.payout_fee_eur,0) - COALESCE(rf.linked_refunds_eur,0),2) AS implied_net_eur,
  ROUND(COALESCE(pg.payout_net_eur,0) - (COALESCE(pg.payout_gross_eur,0) - COALESCE(pg.payout_fee_eur,0) - COALESCE(rf.linked_refunds_eur,0)),2) AS diff_eur,
  ROUND(
    CASE WHEN COALESCE(pg.payout_net_eur,0) = 0 THEN NULL
    ELSE (COALESCE(pg.payout_net_eur,0) - (COALESCE(pg.payout_gross_eur,0) - COALESCE(pg.payout_fee_eur,0) - COALESCE(rf.linked_refunds_eur,0))) / pg.payout_net_eur * 100
    END, 1) AS diff_pct
FROM months m
LEFT JOIN payout_month_agg pg ON pg.month_start = m.month_start
LEFT JOIN refund_month_agg rf ON rf.month_start = m.month_start
ORDER BY m.month_start
    • The warehouse answers
      STATUS: COMPILES (dry run on the empty schema, no data read)
COLUMNS: month, payout_gross_eur, payout_fee_eur, payout_net_eur, linked_refunds_eur, implied_net_eur, diff_eur, diff_pct
    • InesQuery compiles cleanly with the expected 8 columns at monthly grain. Submitting.
    • Ines calls submit
      WITH payout_eur AS (
  SELECT
    po.id AS payout_id,
    cd.month_start,
    cd.month_label,
    CASE WHEN po.currency_code = 'EUR' THEN po.gross_amount ELSE po.gross_amount / er.rate END AS gross_eur,
    CASE WHEN po.currency_code = 'EUR' THEN po.fee_amount ELSE po.fee_amount / er.rate END AS fee_eur,
    CASE WHEN po.currency_code = 'EUR' THEN po.net_amount ELSE po.net_amount / er.rate END AS net_eur
  FROM payouts po
  JOIN calendar_days cd ON cd.calendar_date = CAST(po.paid_at AS date)
  LEFT JOIN exchange_rates er
    ON er.base_code = 'EUR'
    AND er.quote_code = po.currency_code
    AND er.as_of = cd.calendar_date
  WHERE po.paid_at >= DATE '2023-01-01' AND po.paid_at < DATE '2026-01-01'
),
refund_eur AS (
  SELECT
    po.id AS payout_id,
    CASE WHEN pr.currency_code = 'EUR' THEN pr.amount ELSE pr.amount / er.rate END AS refund_eur
  FROM payouts po
  JOIN payout_items pi ON pi.payout_id = po.id
  JOIN payment_refunds pr ON pr.payment_id = pi.payment_id AND pr.status = 'succeeded'
  LEFT JOIN exchange_rates er
    ON er.base_code = 'EUR'
    AND er.quote_code = pr.currency_code
    AND er.as_of = CAST(pr.processed_at AS date)
  WHERE po.paid_at >= DATE '2023-01-01' AND po.paid_at < DATE '2026-01-01'
),
payout_month_agg AS (
  SELECT month_start, month_label,
    SUM(gross_eur) AS payout_gross_eur,
    SUM(fee_eur) AS payout_fee_eur,
    SUM(net_eur) AS payout_net_eur
  FROM payout_eur
  GROUP BY month_start, month_label
),
refund_month_agg AS (
  SELECT pe.month_start, pe.month_label, SUM(re.refund_eur) AS linked_refunds_eur
  FROM refund_eur re
  JOIN (SELECT DISTINCT payout_id, month_start, month_label FROM payout_eur) pe ON pe.payout_id = re.payout_id
  GROUP BY pe.month_start, pe.month_label
),
months AS (
  SELECT DISTINCT month_start, month_label FROM calendar_days
  WHERE month_start >= DATE '2023-01-01' AND month_start <= DATE '2025-12-01'
)
SELECT
  m.month_label AS month,
  ROUND(COALESCE(pg.payout_gross_eur,0),2) AS payout_gross_eur,
  ROUND(COALESCE(pg.payout_fee_eur,0),2) AS payout_fee_eur,
  ROUND(COALESCE(pg.payout_net_eur,0),2) AS payout_net_eur,
  ROUND(COALESCE(rf.linked_refunds_eur,0),2) AS linked_refunds_eur,
  ROUND(COALESCE(pg.payout_gross_eur,0) - COALESCE(pg.payout_fee_eur,0) - COALESCE(rf.linked_refunds_eur,0),2) AS implied_net_eur,
  ROUND(COALESCE(pg.payout_net_eur,0) - (COALESCE(pg.payout_gross_eur,0) - COALESCE(pg.payout_fee_eur,0) - COALESCE(rf.linked_refunds_eur,0)),2) AS diff_eur,
  ROUND(
    CASE WHEN COALESCE(pg.payout_net_eur,0) = 0 THEN NULL
    ELSE (COALESCE(pg.payout_net_eur,0) - (COALESCE(pg.payout_gross_eur,0) - COALESCE(pg.payout_fee_eur,0) - COALESCE(rf.linked_refunds_eur,0))) / pg.payout_net_eur * 100
    END, 1) AS diff_pct
FROM months m
LEFT JOIN payout_month_agg pg ON pg.month_start = m.month_start
LEFT JOIN refund_month_agg rf ON rf.month_start = m.month_start
ORDER BY m.month_start
    • The warehouse answers
      Submitted to tonight's batch. Your work on this request is done.
    • InesSubmitted. The report builds a full 2023-01–2025-12 month series, aggregates payout gross/fee/net in EUR by `paid_at` month, separately sums payment-linked refunds (via `payout_items`→`payments`→`payment_refunds`, status='succeeded') converted to EUR by each refund's own `processed_at` date, then computes the implied net and the diff/diff_pct versus actual payout net — exactly as specified.

    Not shown here: 240 KB of context the agent was given, its instructions and the schema documentation; it is in the raw transcript.

    Ines's transcript (281 KB) · Yuki Tanaka's transcript (954 KB) · Rosa Van den Berg's transcript (262 KB) · the night's plan (6 KB) · the night's reports (12 KB) · the week's memo (3 KB)