Queries · q230 · Chief Financial Officer · week 2, night 4

Bank Transfer Payments With Unexplained Ledger Mismatch: Full List, 2025

“Which specific bank-transfer payments have an unexplained ledger mismatch, so they can be handed to the auditors as a named, bounded list?”

Manager · asked the questionTobias LindqvistChief Financial Officer. New this month, previously finance director at a retailer. Preparing the 2025 annual accounts and the 2026 budget.

Analyst · planned the reportKofi MensahHypothesis-driven: states what he expects and designs reports that would prove him wrong.

Engineer · wrote the SQLViktorOld-school warehouse engineer: explicit JOIN chains straight to the base tables, derived tables, GROUP BY with CASE pivots, few CTEs.

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

A business event lands on the Chief Financial Officer's desk
Week 2
The external auditors start the 2025 year-end audit in two weeks. They will want to see that the money adds up across the whole chain: what shoppers paid, what was refunded or credited, what merchants received in payouts, what Tidewick kept, and that invoices agree with all of it. They will also trace sample transactions end to end.
One of the 35 events we wrote for the role play; the manager heard of it at the start of week 2 and had to cover it in that week's note. How events arise · All the events
Tobias Lindqvist writes to Kofi Mensah
The manager, at the start of week 2
Subject: Good progress — but the audit clock is now the priority

Kofi,

Thanks — this is useful, and I appreciate you flagging the caveats rather than smoothing them over. A few reactions and then where I want to focus next week.

What stood out:
- The correction on the revenue report (off by roughly half, now fixed and cross-checked) is reassuring that you caught it, but it also makes me want a second pair of eyes before anything like this goes near the auditors.
- The refund numbers disagreeing by 16–40% depending on which source we use is the kind of thing an auditor will ask about directly. I don't want to walk in with two different refund totals and no explanation.
- Concentration easing as we add merchants is good context for the budget conversation — no urgent follow-up needed there this week.
- I also saw the notes from pricing and risk this week — the free-delivery giveaway and the refund pattern on that welcome discount are small in isolation, but they're exactly the kind of "where did the money go" questions auditors and I will both ask, so I'd like a rough sense of scale rather than letting them sit as separate anecdotes.
The big new driver: external audit starts in two weeks. They'll want to walk the full money trail — what a shopper paid, what was refunded or credited back, what the merchant was paid out, what we kept as our fee, and that it all agrees with the invoices and accounts — and they'll pick sample transactions and trace them start to finish. I'd rather we got ahead of that than react to it.

Questions for this week, in priority order:
1. Can we demonstrate, for a sample of transactions, that the money actually adds up end to end — shopper payment through refund/credit, payout to the merchant, and our retained fee — so we have something ready to hand the auditors rather than assembling it under time pressure?
2. Which refund figure should I trust for the 2025 accounts, and why do the two methods disagree? I don't need the full reconciliation solved, but I need to understand the likely cause well enough to explain it credibly if asked.
3. Where do things stand on getting our own plan-fee revenue into the picture, even approximately, so I'm not presenting half of 2025 revenue as the whole story?
4. If there's room: roughly how much revenue or margin might be leaking through the control gaps your peers flagged this week (free deliveries to canceled customers, uncapped coupon reuse) — just enough for me to judge whether it's noise or something that belongs in front of the auditors too.
Audit readiness (#1) is the one I most need — please make that the lead request even if it means FX and B2B receivables slip another week.

Thanks, Tobias
Kofi Mensah plans the night
The analyst · week 2, night 4, request 2 of 3
Report 1 from last night looked alarming at first — ledger net revenue running 13.7-15.9% below payments net amount every quarter — but I think I made the same class of mistake as Night 2: "Sales revenue"/"Shipping income" ledger accounts are booked net of VAT (the VAT portion is credited separately to "VAT / sales tax payable"), while my "payments_net_amount_eur" was the VAT-inclusive gross-minus-refund figure. Spot-checking the Night 2 ledger detail confirms it: Ampfeld Elektronik #1727's VAT credit (2,653.61) is 15.97% of its gross payment (16,619.99) — right in the middle of the quarterly gaps I'm seeing. So this is very likely just tax-inclusive vs tax-exclusive revenue, not money going missing, but I want to prove it precisely before I tell Tobias it's resolved, since "the ledger is €200k short this quarter" is exactly the kind of number an auditor would seize on if I handed it over unexplained.

Report 1's payment-method breakdown is the one genuine, bounded item left: bank_transfer payments are only 19 of the 249 "other mismatch" payments by count, but carry 40% of the mismatch euros with an average gap of €898 (vs ~€18-33 for card/wallet/credit) — real money, concentrated in a small, nameable list. Report 3 is a clean, reassuring finding: the no-ledger-entries gap was worst in January (2.17%, €1,241) and has fallen to near-zero by October, with only a small December blip plausibly tied to holiday volume — looks like a fixed/fading issue, not an active control failure.

Tonight (last night before the memo): (1) redo the revenue reconciliation correctly by including VAT in the ledger-side total, to get the real tie-out number; (2) pull the actual 19 bank-transfer mismatched payments as a named, handoff-ready list; (3) check whether bank_transfer payments are systemically more mismatch-prone as a channel (vs. a handful of one-off accidents) by looking at all 2025 bank_transfer payments, not just the flagged ones.
Bank Transfer Payments With Unexplained Ledger Mismatch: Full List, 2025
Question
Which specific bank-transfer payments have an unexplained ledger mismatch, so they can be handed to the auditors as a named, bounded list?
One row per
one payment, restricted to the 19 bank_transfer payments in the 'other mismatch' category
Columns
- order_number
- merchant_name
- payment_captured_at
- currency_code
- payment_amount
- amount_refunded
- ledger_credit_total_eur
- nearest_expected_eur (whichever of net_amount_eur or payment+refund_eur is closer)
- diff_eur

Viktor writes the SQL

The engineer · 2 dry runs on the empty schema, then the submission

Dry run 1 · STATUS: COMPILES (dry run on the empty schema, no data read)

WITH payment_base AS (
  SELECT 
    p.id AS payment_id,
    p.tenant_id,
    p.order_id,
    p.currency_code,
    p.amount,
    p.amount_refunded,
    p.captured_at
  FROM payments p
  JOIN payment_methods pm ON pm.id = p.payment_method_id
  WHERE p.status IN ('captured', 'refunded', 'partially_refunded')
    AND p.captured_at >= DATE '2025-01-01'
    AND p.captured_at < DATE '2026-01-01'
    AND pm.kind = 'bank_transfer'
),
payment_eur AS (
  SELECT
    pb.payment_id,
    pb.tenant_id,
    pb.order_id,
    pb.currency_code,
    pb.amount,
    pb.amount_refunded,
    pb.captured_at,
    CASE WHEN pb.currency_code = 'EUR' THEN pb.amount
         ELSE pb.amount / er.rate END AS payment_amount_eur,
    CASE WHEN pb.currency_code = 'EUR' THEN pb.amount_refunded
         ELSE pb.amount_refunded / er.rate END AS amount_refunded_eur
  FROM payment_base pb
  LEFT JOIN exchange_rates er
    ON er.base_code = 'EUR'
    AND er.quote_code = pb.currency_code
    AND er.as_of = CAST(pb.captured_at AS date)
),
ledger_credit AS (
  SELECT
    le.payment_id,
    SUM(CASE WHEN le.currency_code = 'EUR' THEN le.amount
             ELSE le.amount / er.rate END) AS ledger_credit_total_eur
  FROM ledger_entries le
  LEFT JOIN exchange_rates er
    ON er.base_code = 'EUR'
    AND er.quote_code = le.currency_code
    AND er.as_of = CAST(le.occurred_at AS date)
  WHERE le.direction = 'credit'
    AND le.payment_id IN (SELECT payment_id FROM payment_base)
  GROUP BY le.payment_id
),
calc AS (
  SELECT
    pe.payment_id,
    pe.tenant_id,
    pe.order_id,
    pe.currency_code,
    pe.amount AS payment_amount,
    pe.amount_refunded,
    pe.captured_at,
    lc.ledger_credit_total_eur,
    (pe.payment_amount_eur - pe.amount_refunded_eur) AS net_amount_eur,
    (pe.payment_amount_eur + pe.amount_refunded_eur) AS payment_plus_refund_eur,
    CASE WHEN ABS(lc.ledger_credit_total_eur - (pe.payment_amount_eur - pe.amount_refunded_eur))
              <= ABS(lc.ledger_credit_total_eur - (pe.payment_amount_eur + pe.amount_refunded_eur))
         THEN (pe.payment_amount_eur - pe.amount_refunded_eur)
         ELSE (pe.payment_amount_eur + pe.amount_refunded_eur)
    END AS nearest_expected_eur
  FROM payment_eur pe
  LEFT JOIN ledger_credit lc ON lc.payment_id = pe.payment_id
),
classified AS (
  SELECT
    c.*,
    (c.ledger_credit_total_eur - c.nearest_expected_eur) AS diff_eur,
    GREATEST(0.01 * ABS(c.nearest_expected_eur), 1) AS tolerance_eur
  FROM calc c
)
SELECT
  o.order_number,
  t.name AS merchant_name,
  cl.captured_at AS payment_captured_at,
  cl.currency_code,
  cl.payment_amount,
  cl.amount_refunded,
  ROUND(cl.ledger_credit_total_eur, 2) AS ledger_credit_total_eur,
  ROUND(cl.nearest_expected_eur, 2) AS nearest_expected_eur,
  ROUND(cl.diff_eur, 2) AS diff_eur
FROM classified cl
JOIN tenants t ON t.id = cl.tenant_id
LEFT JOIN orders o ON o.id = cl.order_id
WHERE cl.ledger_credit_total_eur IS NOT NULL
  AND ABS(cl.diff_eur) > cl.tolerance_eur
ORDER BY diff_eur DESC, o.order_number

Dry run 2 · 1 change from the dry run before · STATUS: COMPILES (dry run on the empty schema, no data read)

WITH payment_base AS (  SELECT     p.id AS payment_id,    p.tenant_id,    p.order_id,    p.currency_code,    p.amount,    p.amount_refunded,    p.captured_at  FROM payments p  JOIN payment_methods pm ON pm.id = p.payment_method_id  WHERE p.status IN ('captured', 'refunded', 'partially_refunded')    AND p.captured_at >= DATE '2025-01-01'    AND p.captured_at < DATE '2026-01-01'    AND pm.kind = 'bank_transfer'),payment_eur AS (  SELECT    pb.payment_id,    pb.tenant_id,    pb.order_id,    pb.currency_code,    pb.amount,    pb.amount_refunded,    pb.captured_at,    CASE WHEN pb.currency_code = 'EUR' THEN pb.amount         ELSE pb.amount / er.rate END AS payment_amount_eur,    CASE WHEN pb.currency_code = 'EUR' THEN pb.amount_refunded         ELSE pb.amount_refunded / er.rate END AS amount_refunded_eur  FROM payment_base pb  LEFT JOIN exchange_rates er    ON er.base_code = 'EUR'    AND er.quote_code = pb.currency_code    AND er.as_of = CAST(pb.captured_at AS date)),ledger_credit AS (  SELECT    le.payment_id,    SUM(CASE WHEN le.currency_code = 'EUR' THEN le.amount             ELSE le.amount / er.rate END) AS ledger_credit_total_eur  FROM ledger_entries le  LEFT JOIN exchange_rates er    ON er.base_code = 'EUR'    AND er.quote_code = le.currency_code    AND er.as_of = CAST(le.occurred_at AS date)  WHERE le.direction = 'credit'    AND le.payment_id IN (SELECT payment_id FROM payment_base)  GROUP BY le.payment_id),calc AS (  SELECT    pe.payment_id,    pe.tenant_id,    pe.order_id,    pe.currency_code,    pe.amount AS payment_amount,    pe.amount_refunded,    pe.captured_at,    lc.ledger_credit_total_eur,    (pe.payment_amount_eur - pe.amount_refunded_eur) AS net_amount_eur,    (pe.payment_amount_eur + pe.amount_refunded_eur) AS payment_plus_refund_eur,    CASE WHEN ABS(lc.ledger_credit_total_eur - (pe.payment_amount_eur - pe.amount_refunded_eur))              <= ABS(lc.ledger_credit_total_eur - (pe.payment_amount_eur + pe.amount_refunded_eur))         THEN (pe.payment_amount_eur - pe.amount_refunded_eur)         ELSE (pe.payment_amount_eur + pe.amount_refunded_eur)    END AS nearest_expected_eur  FROM payment_eur pe  LEFT JOIN ledger_credit lc ON lc.payment_id = pe.payment_id),classified AS (  SELECT    c.*,    (c.ledger_credit_total_eur - c.nearest_expected_eur) AS diff_eur,    GREATEST(0.01 * ABS(c.nearest_expected_eur), 1) AS tolerance_eur  FROM calc c)SELECT  o.order_number,  t.name AS merchant_name,  cl.captured_at AS payment_captured_at,  cl.currency_code,  cl.payment_amount,  cl.amount_refunded,  ROUND(cl.ledger_credit_total_eur, 2) AS ledger_credit_total_eur,  ROUND(cl.nearest_expected_eur, 2) AS nearest_expected_eur,  ROUND(cl.diff_eur, 2) AS diff_eurFROM classified clJOIN tenants t ON t.id = cl.tenant_idLEFT JOIN orders o ON o.id = cl.order_idWHERE cl.ledger_credit_total_eur IS NOT NULL  AND ABS(cl.diff_eur) > cl.tolerance_eurORDER BY diff_eur DESC, o.order_numberORDER BY diff_eur DESC, cl.payment_id

“This compiles cleanly and matches the requested grain (one row per payment), columns, and ordering. Submitting.”

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

“Submitted. One note on a judgment call I made since the exact "this week's reconciliation report" query wasn't available to me: I reconstructed the mismatch classification from your description — ledger credit totals and the two expected values (net, and payment+refund) are each FX-converted to EUR using the relevant row's own currency and date, tolerance is max(1% of nearest_expected_eur, €1), and payments with no ledger entries at all are excluded. I used a LEFT JOIN to orders (since payments.order_id is nullable) so no matching payment is silently dropped if it lacks an order link — flagged this in the submit note for the analyst.”

The report comes back overnight

As Kofi Mensah saw it, from the small dataset the agents worked on

order_number | merchant_name                 | payment_captured_at        | currency_code | payment_amount | amount_refunded | ledger_credit_total_eur | nearest_expected_eur | diff_eur
-------------+-------------------------------+----------------------------+---------------+----------------+-----------------+-------------------------+----------------------+---------
SO-100403    | OfficeHub Nordic              | 2025-11-18 02:56:49.141529 | NOK           |       223.4400 |          0.0000 |                 9230.38 |                18.81 |  9211.57
SO-100455    | Kontor24 Bürobedarf           | 2025-05-10 08:55:04.344739 | EUR           |       408.6300 |          0.0000 |                 6368.23 |               408.63 |   5959.6
SO-100272    | OfficeHub Nordic              | 2025-01-23 23:33:35.632494 | NOK           |    145930.2000 |          0.0000 |                16082.74 |             12793.98 |  3288.76
SO-100491    | Ballycorran Industrial Supply | 2025-01-11 07:16:48.524388 | EUR           |         0.0100 |          0.0000 |                 2654.92 |                 0.01 |  2654.91
SO-100259    | Castell Fasteners             | 2025-05-03 03:04:30.576959 | USD           |         0.0000 |          0.0000 |                 1359.98 |                  0.0 |  1359.98
SO-100422    | OfficeHub Nordic              | 2025-12-08 17:43:06.838108 | NOK           |       223.4400 |          0.0000 |                  905.79 |                18.92 |   886.87
SO-100316    | Castell Fasteners             | 2025-07-24 14:54:29.107042 | USD           |        16.2200 |          0.0000 |                  655.93 |                14.03 |    641.9
SO-100761    | Ballycorran Industrial Supply | 2025-12-02 20:06:15.967329 | EUR           |         9.9700 |          0.0000 |                  647.53 |                 9.97 |   637.56
SO-100292    | Castell Fasteners             | 2025-06-07 09:27:13.256556 | USD           |         0.0400 |          0.0000 |                  527.31 |                 0.03 |   527.27
SO-100063    | Polder Packaging              | 2025-04-03 02:27:47.363995 | EUR           |      1127.4200 |          0.0000 |                 1480.43 |              1127.42 |   353.01
SO-100464    | Kontor24 Bürobedarf           | 2025-05-09 11:38:17.404246 | EUR           |         0.0200 |          0.0000 |                  321.95 |                 0.02 |   321.93
SO-100584    | Ballycorran Industrial Supply | 2025-05-16 16:02:44.176106 | EUR           |      7574.2600 |          0.0000 |                  7864.0 |              7574.26 |   289.74
SO-100499    | Ballycorran Industrial Supply | 2025-02-16 22:44:52.478936 | EUR           |      1312.9200 |          0.0000 |                  1552.9 |              1312.92 |   239.98
SO-100578    | Ballycorran Industrial Supply | 2025-04-18 03:32:05.77973  | EUR           |      2473.8200 |          0.0000 |                 2713.71 |              2473.82 |   239.89
SO-100325    | Castell Fasteners             | 2025-08-22 15:23:46.247542 | USD           |     10309.0800 |          0.0000 |                 9088.94 |              8886.71 |   202.23
SO-100330    | OfficeHub Nordic              | 2025-06-23 23:58:05.290898 | NOK           |     17279.7500 |          0.0000 |                 1680.93 |              1523.45 |   157.48
SO-100128    | Deskline Supplies             | 2025-09-23 06:16:30.644573 | GBP           |       299.5800 |          0.0000 |                  506.62 |               349.25 |   157.37
SO-100323    | OfficeHub Nordic              | 2025-07-09 04:33:00.473791 | NOK           |     24181.0000 |          0.0000 |                 2242.47 |              2100.76 |   141.71
SO-100302    | Castell Fasteners             | 2025-07-23 19:39:11.25488  | USD           |      2831.5400 |          0.0000 |                 2569.72 |              2451.98 |   117.73
SO-100591    | Ballycorran Industrial Supply | 2025-04-28 02:19:49.97968  | EUR           |         5.0700 |          0.0000 |                  117.78 |                 5.07 |   112.71
SO-100626    | Ballycorran Industrial Supply | 2025-07-07 01:27:07.947353 | EUR           |      2159.9900 |          0.0000 |                 2266.07 |              2159.99 |   106.08
#1168        | Ostwind Mode                  | 2025-01-22 14:07:50.627724 | EUR           |        50.7100 |          0.0000 |                  150.71 |                50.71 |    100.0
SO-100164    | Hanse Industriebedarf         | 2025-12-24 11:26:49.545005 | EUR           |       770.6200 |          0.0000 |                   865.4 |               770.62 |    94.78
SO-100124    | Hanse Industriebedarf         | 2025-07-01 06:12:54.419193 | EUR           |       640.0400 |          0.0000 |                   731.0 |               640.04 |    90.96
SO-100332    | Castell Fasteners             | 2025-10-10 09:10:44.57573  | USD           |         5.4700 |          0.0000 |                   94.26 |                 4.87 |    89.39
SO-100390    | OfficeHub Nordic              | 2025-11-13 20:34:12.911315 | NOK           |     12803.1200 |          0.0000 |                  1149.3 |              1076.33 |    72.97
SO-100564    | Ballycorran Industrial Supply | 2025-03-18 06:43:06.246469 | EUR           |       222.0400 |          0.0000 |                  292.86 |               222.04 |    70.82
SO-100442    | Kontor24 Bürobedarf           | 2025-05-04 03:15:20.707363 | EUR           |       140.4500 |          0.0000 |                  207.45 |               140.45 |     67.0
SO-100733    | Ballycorran Industrial Supply | 2025-09-30 06:19:43.677077 | EUR           |      3344.4700 |          0.0000 |                 3411.17 |              3344.47 |     66.7
SO-100093    | Hanse Industriebedarf         | 2025-01-01 14:09:06.161264 | EUR           |       354.1800 |          0.0000 |                  418.58 |               354.18 |     64.4
SO-100270    | Castell Fasteners             | 2025-06-02 20:50:48.3459   | USD           |       790.8500 |          0.0000 |                  735.47 |               673.16 |    62.31
SO-100131    | Hanse Industriebedarf         | 2025-07-04 17:12:11.772823 | EUR           |       545.7600 |          0.0000 |                  606.66 |               545.76 |     60.9
SO-100319    | OfficeHub Nordic              | 2025-06-21 11:10:03.769644 | NOK           |     21075.7500 |          0.0000 |                 1917.58 |              1866.65 |    50.93
WW-100501    | Wiesgrund Wohnen              | 2025-02-11 13:38:44.726425 | EUR           |       102.9400 |          0.0000 |                  152.94 |               102.94 |     50.0
WW-100672    | Wiesgrund Wohnen              | 2025-10-23 08:22:36.519884 | EUR           |        41.3900 |          0.0000 |                   90.49 |                41.39 |     49.1
SO-100233    | Castell Fasteners             | 2025-02-13 05:29:52.262559 | USD           |       752.9100 |          0.0000 |                  713.32 |                666.7 |    46.62
SO-100725    | Ballycorran Industrial Supply | 2025-10-04 16:07:35.110258 | EUR           |        23.0000 |          0.0000 |                   64.52 |                 23.0 |    41.52
SO-100236    | Midland Safety Wear           | 2025-04-04 18:49:17.165822 | EUR           |         4.9700 |          0.0000 |                   44.93 |                 4.97 |    39.96
SO-100310    | Castell Fasteners             | 2025-07-12 08:56:04.981953 | USD           |      1695.8300 |          0.0000 |                 1477.93 |              1438.39 |    39.54
SO-100605    | Ballycorran Industrial Supply | 2025-07-05 08:30:06.143469 | EUR           |        10.0900 |          0.0000 |                   46.89 |                10.09 |     36.8
SO-100688    | Ballycorran Industrial Supply | 2025-09-09 15:58:50.609058 | EUR           |        13.6600 |          0.0000 |                   49.58 |                13.66 |    35.92
SO-100544    | Kontor24 Bürobedarf           | 2025-10-14 00:13:55.981511 | EUR           |       623.6400 |          0.0000 |                  659.44 |               623.64 |     35.8
SO-100069    | Polder Packaging              | 2025-05-01 22:13:21.365376 | EUR           |      1791.0500 |          0.0000 |                 1823.99 |              1791.05 |    32.94
SO-100685    | Ballycorran Industrial Supply | 2025-08-06 15:26:21.552864 | EUR           |       154.2700 |          0.0000 |                  185.63 |               154.27 |    31.36
SO-100594    | Ballycorran Industrial Supply | 2025-05-27 09:09:18.968208 | EUR           |       449.1700 |          0.0000 |                  477.05 |               449.17 |    27.88
WW-100480    | Wiesgrund Wohnen              | 2025-01-10 09:56:47.366821 | EUR           |       173.8900 |          0.0000 |                  198.89 |               173.89 |     25.0
WW-100579    | Wiesgrund Wohnen              | 2025-06-09 23:18:55.287282 | EUR           |       510.4100 |          0.0000 |                  535.41 |               510.41 |     25.0
SO-100554    | Ballycorran Industrial Supply | 2025-03-22 07:20:44.713082 | EUR           |       344.8700 |          0.0000 |                  363.77 |               344.87 |     18.9
SO-100551    | Ballycorran Industrial Supply | 2025-04-25 13:23:08.433043 | EUR           |       139.1900 |          0.0000 |                  154.19 |               139.19 |     15.0
SO-100815    | Ballycorran Industrial Supply | 2025-12-24 04:33:03.019467 | EUR           |       621.9800 |          0.0000 |                  636.88 |               621.98 |     14.9
(54 rows, first 50 printed)

What came of it
The memo and the queries that followed; links found by title, so inferred
It builds on:
- q226Other-Mismatch Payments: Characterization by Payment Method, 2025

It becomes benchmark query q230

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

numericsdocs/NUMERICS.md: rounding removed; results keep full precision
numericsdocs/NUMERICS.md: x / exchange rate cast to NUMERIC(18,6) (3×)
made explicita selected t.col gets AS col, its standard name made explicit (25×)
determinismthe standard leaves the place of NULLs in a sort to the implementation: NULLS LAST ascending, NULLS FIRST descending, as in the reference results (2×)

The benchmark text, against the submitted SQL

WITH payment_base AS (  SELECT     p.id AS payment_id,    p.tenant_id,    p.order_id,    p.currency_code,    p.amount,    p.amount_refunded,    p.captured_at    p.tenant_id AS tenant_id,    p.order_id AS order_id,    p.currency_code AS currency_code,    p.amount AS amount,    p.amount_refunded AS amount_refunded,    p.captured_at AS captured_at  FROM payments p  JOIN payment_methods pm ON pm.id = p.payment_method_id  WHERE p.status IN ('captured', 'refunded', 'partially_refunded')    AND p.captured_at >= DATE '2025-01-01'    AND p.captured_at < DATE '2026-01-01'    AND pm.kind = 'bank_transfer'),payment_eur AS (  SELECT    pb.payment_id,    pb.tenant_id,    pb.order_id,    pb.currency_code,    pb.amount,    pb.amount_refunded,    pb.captured_at,    pb.payment_id AS payment_id,    pb.tenant_id AS tenant_id,    pb.order_id AS order_id,    pb.currency_code AS currency_code,    pb.amount AS amount,    pb.amount_refunded AS amount_refunded,    pb.captured_at AS captured_at,    CASE WHEN pb.currency_code = 'EUR' THEN pb.amount         ELSE pb.amount / er.rate END AS payment_amount_eur,         ELSE CAST(pb.amount / er.rate AS NUMERIC(18,6)) END AS payment_amount_eur,    CASE WHEN pb.currency_code = 'EUR' THEN pb.amount_refunded         ELSE pb.amount_refunded / er.rate END AS amount_refunded_eur         ELSE CAST(pb.amount_refunded / er.rate AS NUMERIC(18,6)) END AS amount_refunded_eur  FROM payment_base pb  LEFT JOIN exchange_rates er    ON er.base_code = 'EUR'    AND er.quote_code = pb.currency_code    AND er.as_of = CAST(pb.captured_at AS date)),ledger_credit AS (  SELECT    le.payment_id,    le.payment_id AS payment_id,    SUM(CASE WHEN le.currency_code = 'EUR' THEN le.amount             ELSE le.amount / er.rate END) AS ledger_credit_total_eur             ELSE CAST(le.amount / er.rate AS NUMERIC(18,6)) END) AS ledger_credit_total_eur  FROM ledger_entries le  LEFT JOIN exchange_rates er    ON er.base_code = 'EUR'    AND er.quote_code = le.currency_code    AND er.as_of = CAST(le.occurred_at AS date)  WHERE le.direction = 'credit'    AND le.payment_id IN (SELECT payment_id FROM payment_base)  GROUP BY le.payment_id),calc AS (  SELECT    pe.payment_id,    pe.tenant_id,    pe.order_id,    pe.currency_code,    pe.payment_id AS payment_id,    pe.tenant_id AS tenant_id,    pe.order_id AS order_id,    pe.currency_code AS currency_code,    pe.amount AS payment_amount,    pe.amount_refunded,    pe.captured_at,    lc.ledger_credit_total_eur,    pe.amount_refunded AS amount_refunded,    pe.captured_at AS captured_at,    lc.ledger_credit_total_eur AS ledger_credit_total_eur,    (pe.payment_amount_eur - pe.amount_refunded_eur) AS net_amount_eur,    (pe.payment_amount_eur + pe.amount_refunded_eur) AS payment_plus_refund_eur,    CASE WHEN ABS(lc.ledger_credit_total_eur - (pe.payment_amount_eur - pe.amount_refunded_eur))              <= ABS(lc.ledger_credit_total_eur - (pe.payment_amount_eur + pe.amount_refunded_eur))         THEN (pe.payment_amount_eur - pe.amount_refunded_eur)         ELSE (pe.payment_amount_eur + pe.amount_refunded_eur)    END AS nearest_expected_eur  FROM payment_eur pe  LEFT JOIN ledger_credit lc ON lc.payment_id = pe.payment_id),classified AS (  SELECT    c.*,    (c.ledger_credit_total_eur - c.nearest_expected_eur) AS diff_eur,    GREATEST(0.01 * ABS(c.nearest_expected_eur), 1) AS tolerance_eur  FROM calc c)SELECT  o.order_number,  o.order_number AS order_number,  t.name AS merchant_name,  cl.captured_at AS payment_captured_at,  cl.currency_code,  cl.payment_amount,  cl.amount_refunded,  ROUND(cl.ledger_credit_total_eur, 2) AS ledger_credit_total_eur,  ROUND(cl.nearest_expected_eur, 2) AS nearest_expected_eur,  ROUND(cl.diff_eur, 2) AS diff_eur  cl.currency_code AS currency_code,  cl.payment_amount AS payment_amount,  cl.amount_refunded AS amount_refunded,  cl.ledger_credit_total_eur AS ledger_credit_total_eur,  cl.nearest_expected_eur AS nearest_expected_eur,  cl.diff_eur AS diff_eurFROM classified clJOIN tenants t ON t.id = cl.tenant_idLEFT JOIN orders o ON o.id = cl.order_idWHERE cl.ledger_credit_total_eur IS NOT NULL  AND ABS(cl.diff_eur) > cl.tolerance_eurORDER BY diff_eur DESC, cl.payment_idORDER BY diff_eur DESC NULLS FIRST, cl.payment_id NULLS LAST

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

WITH payment_base AS (
  SELECT 
    p.id AS payment_id,
    p.tenant_id AS tenant_id,
    p.order_id AS order_id,
    p.currency_code AS currency_code,
    p.amount AS amount,
    p.amount_refunded AS amount_refunded,
    p.captured_at AS captured_at
  FROM payments p
  JOIN payment_methods pm ON pm.id = p.payment_method_id
  WHERE p.status IN ('captured', 'refunded', 'partially_refunded')
    AND p.captured_at >= DATE '2025-01-01'
    AND p.captured_at < DATE '2026-01-01'
    AND pm.kind = 'bank_transfer'
),
payment_eur AS (
  SELECT
    pb.payment_id AS payment_id,
    pb.tenant_id AS tenant_id,
    pb.order_id AS order_id,
    pb.currency_code AS currency_code,
    pb.amount AS amount,
    pb.amount_refunded AS amount_refunded,
    pb.captured_at AS captured_at,
    CASE WHEN pb.currency_code = 'EUR' THEN pb.amount
         ELSE CAST(pb.amount / er.rate AS NUMERIC(18,6)) END AS payment_amount_eur,
    CASE WHEN pb.currency_code = 'EUR' THEN pb.amount_refunded
         ELSE CAST(pb.amount_refunded / er.rate AS NUMERIC(18,6)) END AS amount_refunded_eur
  FROM payment_base pb
  LEFT JOIN exchange_rates er
    ON er.base_code = 'EUR'
    AND er.quote_code = pb.currency_code
    AND er.as_of = CAST(pb.captured_at AS date)
),
ledger_credit AS (
  SELECT
    le.payment_id AS payment_id,
    SUM(CASE WHEN le.currency_code = 'EUR' THEN le.amount
             ELSE CAST(le.amount / er.rate AS NUMERIC(18,6)) END) AS ledger_credit_total_eur
  FROM ledger_entries le
  LEFT JOIN exchange_rates er
    ON er.base_code = 'EUR'
    AND er.quote_code = le.currency_code
    AND er.as_of = CAST(le.occurred_at AS date)
  WHERE le.direction = 'credit'
    AND le.payment_id IN (SELECT payment_id FROM payment_base)
  GROUP BY le.payment_id
),
calc AS (
  SELECT
    pe.payment_id AS payment_id,
    pe.tenant_id AS tenant_id,
    pe.order_id AS order_id,
    pe.currency_code AS currency_code,
    pe.amount AS payment_amount,
    pe.amount_refunded AS amount_refunded,
    pe.captured_at AS captured_at,
    lc.ledger_credit_total_eur AS ledger_credit_total_eur,
    (pe.payment_amount_eur - pe.amount_refunded_eur) AS net_amount_eur,
    (pe.payment_amount_eur + pe.amount_refunded_eur) AS payment_plus_refund_eur,
    CASE WHEN ABS(lc.ledger_credit_total_eur - (pe.payment_amount_eur - pe.amount_refunded_eur))
              <= ABS(lc.ledger_credit_total_eur - (pe.payment_amount_eur + pe.amount_refunded_eur))
         THEN (pe.payment_amount_eur - pe.amount_refunded_eur)
         ELSE (pe.payment_amount_eur + pe.amount_refunded_eur)
    END AS nearest_expected_eur
  FROM payment_eur pe
  LEFT JOIN ledger_credit lc ON lc.payment_id = pe.payment_id
),
classified AS (
  SELECT
    c.*,
    (c.ledger_credit_total_eur - c.nearest_expected_eur) AS diff_eur,
    GREATEST(0.01 * ABS(c.nearest_expected_eur), 1) AS tolerance_eur
  FROM calc c
)
SELECT
  o.order_number AS order_number,
  t.name AS merchant_name,
  cl.captured_at AS payment_captured_at,
  cl.currency_code AS currency_code,
  cl.payment_amount AS payment_amount,
  cl.amount_refunded AS amount_refunded,
  cl.ledger_credit_total_eur AS ledger_credit_total_eur,
  cl.nearest_expected_eur AS nearest_expected_eur,
  cl.diff_eur AS diff_eur
FROM classified cl
JOIN tenants t ON t.id = cl.tenant_id
LEFT JOIN orders o ON o.id = cl.order_id
WHERE cl.ledger_credit_total_eur IS NOT NULL
  AND ABS(cl.diff_eur) > cl.tolerance_eur
ORDER BY diff_eur DESC NULLS FIRST, cl.payment_id NULLS LAST

Firebolt{ "errors": [ { "description": "Line 27, Column 30: 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": "78399110-f12a-4766-9327-6482153ab710", "query_lab
ClickHouseCode: 69. DB::Exception: Decimal result's scale is less than argument's one: while executing function divide on arguments __table4.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. q230 on the start page, with every configuration.

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

Viktor's whole session, 9 turns

The request, as Viktor received it

Report request from Kofi Mensah (analyst for the Chief Financial Officer):

Title: Bank Transfer Payments With Unexplained Ledger Mismatch: Full List, 2025
Question: Which specific bank-transfer payments have an unexplained ledger mismatch, so they can be handed to the auditors as a named, bounded list?
Grain: one payment, restricted to the 19 bank_transfer payments in the 'other mismatch' category
Columns:
- order_number
- merchant_name
- payment_captured_at
- currency_code
- payment_amount
- amount_refunded
- ledger_credit_total_eur
- nearest_expected_eur (whichever of net_amount_eur or payment+refund_eur is closer)
- diff_eur
Details: Recompute the same 'other mismatch' classification as this week's reconciliation reports (2025 captured/refunded/partially_refunded payments; ledger credit total per payment_id in EUR vs. net_amount_eur and payment+refund_eur, both in EUR, with the 1%-or-€1 tolerance; excluding 'no ledger entries' payments), restricted to payments.payment_method_id -> payment_methods.kind = 'bank_transfer'. Join orders for order_number and tenants for merchant_name. List all matching payments individually (expect ~19 rows). Order by diff_eur descending.

Check your query with the warehouse's dry_run tool, then hand it in with submit.

Viktor calls dry_run

WITH payment_base AS (
  SELECT 
    p.id AS payment_id,
    p.tenant_id,
    p.order_id,
    p.currency_code,
    p.amount,
    p.amount_refunded,
    p.captured_at
  FROM payments p
  JOIN payment_methods pm ON pm.id = p.payment_method_id
  WHERE p.status IN ('captured', 'refunded', 'partially_refunded')
    AND p.captured_at >= DATE '2025-01-01'
    AND p.captured_at < DATE '2026-01-01'
    AND pm.kind = 'bank_transfer'
),
payment_eur AS (
  SELECT
    pb.payment_id,
    pb.tenant_id,
    pb.order_id,
    pb.currency_code,
    pb.amount,
    pb.amount_refunded,
    pb.captured_at,
    CASE WHEN pb.currency_code = 'EUR' THEN pb.amount
         ELSE pb.amount / er.rate END AS payment_amount_eur,
    CASE WHEN pb.currency_code = 'EUR' THEN pb.amount_refunded
         ELSE pb.amount_refunded / er.rate END AS amount_refunded_eur
  FROM payment_base pb
  LEFT JOIN exchange_rates er
    ON er.base_code = 'EUR'
    AND er.quote_code = pb.currency_code
    AND er.as_of = CAST(pb.captured_at AS date)
),
ledger_credit AS (
  SELECT
    le.payment_id,
    SUM(CASE WHEN le.currency_code = 'EUR' THEN le.amount
             ELSE le.amount / er.rate END) AS ledger_credit_total_eur
  FROM ledger_entries le
  LEFT JOIN exchange_rates er
    ON er.base_code = 'EUR'
    AND er.quote_code = le.currency_code
    AND er.as_of = CAST(le.occurred_at AS date)
  WHERE le.direction = 'credit'
    AND le.payment_id IN (SELECT payment_id FROM payment_base)
  GROUP BY le.payment_id
),
calc AS (
  SELECT
    pe.payment_id,
    pe.tenant_id,
    pe.order_id,
    pe.currency_code,
    pe.amount AS payment_amount,
    pe.amount_refunded,
    pe.captured_at,
    lc.ledger_credit_total_eur,
    (pe.payment_amount_eur - pe.amount_refunded_eur) AS net_amount_eur,
    (pe.payment_amount_eur + pe.amount_refunded_eur) AS payment_plus_refund_eur,
    CASE WHEN ABS(lc.ledger_credit_total_eur - (pe.payment_amount_eur - pe.amount_refunded_eur))
              <= ABS(lc.ledger_credit_total_eur - (pe.payment_amount_eur + pe.amount_refunded_eur))
         THEN (pe.payment_amount_eur - pe.amount_refunded_eur)
         ELSE (pe.payment_amount_eur + pe.amount_refunded_eur)
    END AS nearest_expected_eur
  FROM payment_eur pe
  LEFT JOIN ledger_credit lc ON lc.payment_id = pe.payment_id
),
classified AS (
  SELECT
    c.*,
    (c.ledger_credit_total_eur - c.nearest_expected_eur) AS diff_eur,
    GREATEST(0.01 * ABS(c.nearest_expected_eur), 1) AS tolerance_eur
  FROM calc c
)
SELECT
  o.order_number,
  t.name AS merchant_name,
  cl.captured_at AS payment_captured_at,
  cl.currency_code,
  cl.payment_amount,
  cl.amount_refunded,
  ROUND(cl.ledger_credit_total_eur, 2) AS ledger_credit_total_eur,
  ROUND(cl.nearest_expected_eur, 2) AS nearest_expected_eur,
  ROUND(cl.diff_eur, 2) AS diff_eur
FROM classified cl
JOIN tenants t ON t.id = cl.tenant_id
LEFT JOIN orders o ON o.id = cl.order_id
WHERE cl.ledger_credit_total_eur IS NOT NULL
  AND ABS(cl.diff_eur) > cl.tolerance_eur
ORDER BY diff_eur DESC, o.order_number

The warehouse answers

STATUS: COMPILES (dry run on the empty schema, no data read)
COLUMNS: order_number, merchant_name, payment_captured_at, currency_code, payment_amount, amount_refunded, ledger_credit_total_eur, nearest_expected_eur, diff_eur

Viktor calls dry_run

WITH payment_base AS (
  SELECT 
    p.id AS payment_id,
    p.tenant_id,
    p.order_id,
    p.currency_code,
    p.amount,
    p.amount_refunded,
    p.captured_at
  FROM payments p
  JOIN payment_methods pm ON pm.id = p.payment_method_id
  WHERE p.status IN ('captured', 'refunded', 'partially_refunded')
    AND p.captured_at >= DATE '2025-01-01'
    AND p.captured_at < DATE '2026-01-01'
    AND pm.kind = 'bank_transfer'
),
payment_eur AS (
  SELECT
    pb.payment_id,
    pb.tenant_id,
    pb.order_id,
    pb.currency_code,
    pb.amount,
    pb.amount_refunded,
    pb.captured_at,
    CASE WHEN pb.currency_code = 'EUR' THEN pb.amount
         ELSE pb.amount / er.rate END AS payment_amount_eur,
    CASE WHEN pb.currency_code = 'EUR' THEN pb.amount_refunded
         ELSE pb.amount_refunded / er.rate END AS amount_refunded_eur
  FROM payment_base pb
  LEFT JOIN exchange_rates er
    ON er.base_code = 'EUR'
    AND er.quote_code = pb.currency_code
    AND er.as_of = CAST(pb.captured_at AS date)
),
ledger_credit AS (
  SELECT
    le.payment_id,
    SUM(CASE WHEN le.currency_code = 'EUR' THEN le.amount
             ELSE le.amount / er.rate END) AS ledger_credit_total_eur
  FROM ledger_entries le
  LEFT JOIN exchange_rates er
    ON er.base_code = 'EUR'
    AND er.quote_code = le.currency_code
    AND er.as_of = CAST(le.occurred_at AS date)
  WHERE le.direction = 'credit'
    AND le.payment_id IN (SELECT payment_id FROM payment_base)
  GROUP BY le.payment_id
),
calc AS (
  SELECT
    pe.payment_id,
    pe.tenant_id,
    pe.order_id,
    pe.currency_code,
    pe.amount AS payment_amount,
    pe.amount_refunded,
    pe.captured_at,
    lc.ledger_credit_total_eur,
    (pe.payment_amount_eur - pe.amount_refunded_eur) AS net_amount_eur,
    (pe.payment_amount_eur + pe.amount_refunded_eur) AS payment_plus_refund_eur,
    CASE WHEN ABS(lc.ledger_credit_total_eur - (pe.payment_amount_eur - pe.amount_refunded_eur))
              <= ABS(lc.ledger_credit_total_eur - (pe.payment_amount_eur + pe.amount_refunded_eur))
         THEN (pe.payment_amount_eur - pe.amount_refunded_eur)
         ELSE (pe.payment_amount_eur + pe.amount_refunded_eur)
    END AS nearest_expected_eur
  FROM payment_eur pe
  LEFT JOIN ledger_credit lc ON lc.payment_id = pe.payment_id
),
classified AS (
  SELECT
    c.*,
    (c.ledger_credit_total_eur - c.nearest_expected_eur) AS diff_eur,
    GREATEST(0.01 * ABS(c.nearest_expected_eur), 1) AS tolerance_eur
  FROM calc c
)
SELECT
  o.order_number,
  t.name AS merchant_name,
  cl.captured_at AS payment_captured_at,
  cl.currency_code,
  cl.payment_amount,
  cl.amount_refunded,
  ROUND(cl.ledger_credit_total_eur, 2) AS ledger_credit_total_eur,
  ROUND(cl.nearest_expected_eur, 2) AS nearest_expected_eur,
  ROUND(cl.diff_eur, 2) AS diff_eur
FROM classified cl
JOIN tenants t ON t.id = cl.tenant_id
LEFT JOIN orders o ON o.id = cl.order_id
WHERE cl.ledger_credit_total_eur IS NOT NULL
  AND ABS(cl.diff_eur) > cl.tolerance_eur
ORDER BY diff_eur DESC, cl.payment_id

The warehouse answers

STATUS: COMPILES (dry run on the empty schema, no data read)
COLUMNS: order_number, merchant_name, payment_captured_at, currency_code, payment_amount, amount_refunded, ledger_credit_total_eur, nearest_expected_eur, diff_eur

ViktorThis compiles cleanly and matches the requested grain (one row per payment), columns, and ordering. Submitting.

Viktor calls submit

WITH payment_base AS (
  SELECT 
    p.id AS payment_id,
    p.tenant_id,
    p.order_id,
    p.currency_code,
    p.amount,
    p.amount_refunded,
    p.captured_at
  FROM payments p
  JOIN payment_methods pm ON pm.id = p.payment_method_id
  WHERE p.status IN ('captured', 'refunded', 'partially_refunded')
    AND p.captured_at >= DATE '2025-01-01'
    AND p.captured_at < DATE '2026-01-01'
    AND pm.kind = 'bank_transfer'
),
payment_eur AS (
  SELECT
    pb.payment_id,
    pb.tenant_id,
    pb.order_id,
    pb.currency_code,
    pb.amount,
    pb.amount_refunded,
    pb.captured_at,
    CASE WHEN pb.currency_code = 'EUR' THEN pb.amount
         ELSE pb.amount / er.rate END AS payment_amount_eur,
    CASE WHEN pb.currency_code = 'EUR' THEN pb.amount_refunded
         ELSE pb.amount_refunded / er.rate END AS amount_refunded_eur
  FROM payment_base pb
  LEFT JOIN exchange_rates er
    ON er.base_code = 'EUR'
    AND er.quote_code = pb.currency_code
    AND er.as_of = CAST(pb.captured_at AS date)
),
ledger_credit AS (
  SELECT
    le.payment_id,
    SUM(CASE WHEN le.currency_code = 'EUR' THEN le.amount
             ELSE le.amount / er.rate END) AS ledger_credit_total_eur
  FROM ledger_entries le
  LEFT JOIN exchange_rates er
    ON er.base_code = 'EUR'
    AND er.quote_code = le.currency_code
    AND er.as_of = CAST(le.occurred_at AS date)
  WHERE le.direction = 'credit'
    AND le.payment_id IN (SELECT payment_id FROM payment_base)
  GROUP BY le.payment_id
),
calc AS (
  SELECT
    pe.payment_id,
    pe.tenant_id,
    pe.order_id,
    pe.currency_code,
    pe.amount AS payment_amount,
    pe.amount_refunded,
    pe.captured_at,
    lc.ledger_credit_total_eur,
    (pe.payment_amount_eur - pe.amount_refunded_eur) AS net_amount_eur,
    (pe.payment_amount_eur + pe.amount_refunded_eur) AS payment_plus_refund_eur,
    CASE WHEN ABS(lc.ledger_credit_total_eur - (pe.payment_amount_eur - pe.amount_refunded_eur))
              <= ABS(lc.ledger_credit_total_eur - (pe.payment_amount_eur + pe.amount_refunded_eur))
         THEN (pe.payment_amount_eur - pe.amount_refunded_eur)
         ELSE (pe.payment_amount_eur + pe.amount_refunded_eur)
    END AS nearest_expected_eur
  FROM payment_eur pe
  LEFT JOIN ledger_credit lc ON lc.payment_id = pe.payment_id
),
classified AS (
  SELECT
    c.*,
    (c.ledger_credit_total_eur - c.nearest_expected_eur) AS diff_eur,
    GREATEST(0.01 * ABS(c.nearest_expected_eur), 1) AS tolerance_eur
  FROM calc c
)
SELECT
  o.order_number,
  t.name AS merchant_name,
  cl.captured_at AS payment_captured_at,
  cl.currency_code,
  cl.payment_amount,
  cl.amount_refunded,
  ROUND(cl.ledger_credit_total_eur, 2) AS ledger_credit_total_eur,
  ROUND(cl.nearest_expected_eur, 2) AS nearest_expected_eur,
  ROUND(cl.diff_eur, 2) AS diff_eur
FROM classified cl
JOIN tenants t ON t.id = cl.tenant_id
LEFT JOIN orders o ON o.id = cl.order_id
WHERE cl.ledger_credit_total_eur IS NOT NULL
  AND ABS(cl.diff_eur) > cl.tolerance_eur
ORDER BY diff_eur DESC, cl.payment_id

The warehouse answers

Submitted to tonight's batch. Your work on this request is done.

ViktorSubmitted. One note on a judgment call I made since the exact "this week's reconciliation report" query wasn't available to me: I reconstructed the mismatch classification from your description — ledger credit totals and the two expected values (net, and payment+refund) are each FX-converted to EUR using the relevant row's own currency and date, tolerance is `max(1% of nearest_expected_eur, €1)`, and payments with no ledger entries at all are excluded. I used a `LEFT JOIN` to `orders` (since `payments.order_id` is nullable) so no matching payment is silently dropped if it lacks an order link — flagged this in the submit note for the analyst.

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

Viktor's transcript (302 KB) · Kofi Mensah's transcript (906 KB) · Tobias Lindqvist's transcript (269 KB) · the night's plan (6 KB) · the night's reports (13 KB) · the week's memo (3 KB)

Bank Transfer Payments With Unexplained Ledger Mismatch: Full List, 2025

A business event lands on the Chief Financial Officer's desk

Tobias Lindqvist writes to Kofi Mensah

Kofi Mensah plans the night

Viktor writes the SQL

The report comes back overnight

What came of it

It becomes benchmark query q230

Everything, as recorded