Why a Corrected Figure Goes Stale Across the Pack

A reporting pack (the set of documents behind a management or board meeting) usually has three layers:

1. The analysis spreadsheet: the workbook where figures are calculated.
2. The written commentary: the narrative that explains the numbers, often in a Word document or a text box.
3. The slide deck: the presentation the board sees, with charts, tables and short callouts.

These layers are built from each other, but they are separate files. A correction in one layer does not flow to the others on its own.

Here is the example we'll use throughout this lesson. Q3 revenue was reported as 4,218 in a £000 table. The day before the board meeting, finance corrects it to 4,138. You change the source cell in the workbook. The spreadsheet is now right. The commentary still says "Q3 revenue of £4.2m", and slide 7 still shows a bar at 4,218.

Nothing went wrong with your edit. The other two layers were never connected to that cell in a way that updates by itself. The rest of this course is about finding those disconnected copies and fixing them on purpose.

A single figure rarely appears just once. It travels through the pack in different forms:

• Linked cell: a formula that points to the source, such as =Data!C14.
• Hard-coded value: the number typed or pasted in as a plain number, with no formula behind it.
• Derived figure: a number calculated from it, such as a total, a margin or a percentage change.
• Sentence: the figure written into commentary, often rounded. 4,218 in a £000 table becomes "£4.2m".
• Chart: the figure as one point in a chart series.
• Slide table: the figure in a table on a slide.
• Slide text or speaker notes: a callout such as "Revenue up 8%" or a line in the notes the presenter reads aloud.

In our example, Q3 revenue of 4,218 might sit in the Data sheet, be linked into a summary sheet, feed a growth percentage, appear as "£4.2m" in the commentary, drive a bar on slide 7 and be quoted in the speaker notes. That is six or more places for one number.

Uses of a figure fall into three groups when the source cell changes.

Recalculate on their own: formulas inside the same workbook, but only when calculation is set to automatic. If someone switched the workbook to manual calculation, they wait until you recalculate.

Update only after a deliberate step:

• Pivot tables need refreshing.
• Links to other workbooks need updating.
• Charts or tables linked into slides need updating.

These linked items pick up only the saved source file. If you corrected the cell but haven't saved, the link brings in the old number.

Keep the old value until changed by hand:

• Values pasted as numbers.
• Charts pasted into slides as pictures.
• Embedded chart data that is not linked to the workbook.
• Numbers typed into sentences.

In our example, the summary sheet formula updates to 4,138 straight away. The pivot table on the regional tab still says 4,218 until refreshed. The slide 7 chart, pasted as a picture, will say 4,218 forever unless someone replaces it.

When you search a pack for "4,218", you find the direct uses. You won't find the figures calculated from it, because they look like different numbers.

In our example, prior-year Q3 revenue was 3,900, budget was 4,150 and cost of sales was 2,520 (all £000). When revenue changes from 4,218 to 4,138:

• Growth falls from about 8.2% to about 6.1%.
• Gross margin falls from about 40.3% to about 39.1%.
• Versus budget moves from 68 ahead to 12 behind.
• Any total that includes Q3 revenue changes too, such as year-to-date revenue.

The last one matters most for the narrative. A phrase like "ahead of budget" contains no number at all, yet it is now false. The same goes for words such as "growth accelerated", "record quarter" or "margin held steady".

When a figure is corrected, ask: what else was worked out from this, and what words describe it?

Try the sliders to see how far the derived figures move with a small change in revenue.

A figure is never just a number. Each use carries four pieces of context:

• Reporting period: Q3, September month, year to date, last twelve months.
• Currency: £, $, €.
• Units: whole units, thousands (£000) or millions (£m).
• Calculation method: for example, gross versus net, reported versus constant currency, or margin on revenue versus markup on cost.

The same figure shows up with different context in different layers. 4,218 in a £000 table is "£4.2m" in a sentence. Change it to 4,138 and the sentence should read "£4.1m".

A correction can go wrong in two ways:

1. Number changed, context not: you update the table to 4,138 but the header still says "Q3 forecast" when it is now actuals.
2. Context changed, number not: the correction was a units fix, from £000 to £m, but a slide still shows the old scale label next to the old digits.

Either way the pack is still wrong. When you update an item, check the number and its four labels together.

Later lessons use an AI tool to help find every use of a figure. Before you paste or upload anything, settle what you are allowed to share.

Check your organisation's rules first. Most finance teams have a policy on AI tools and data. If you are unsure, ask before you start, not the night before the meeting.

Use only an AI tool approved for finance data. A general chatbot on a personal account is not approved just because it is convenient.

Keep these out of unapproved cloud tools:

• Customer identifiers, such as names, account numbers or contract references.
• Account credentials, such as passwords, access keys or links that grant access.
• Nonpublic reporting information, such as unreleased results, the board pack itself and forecasts.

If you can't share the real file, share less. A structure-only extract lists sheet names, cell addresses, formulas and slide titles without the values. A redacted copy replaces sensitive values and names with placeholders. Both still let an AI tool see how the figure moves through the pack, which is what you need for mapping.

Here is the pack from our example after you corrected Q3 revenue to 4,138 in the Data sheet and saved the workbook. Nothing else has been touched yet.

Item	Form	Shows
Summary sheet D8	Linked cell, automatic calculation	4,138
Regional tab	Pivot table, not refreshed	4,218
Commentary paragraph 2	Sentence	"£4.2m, ahead of budget"
Slide 7 chart	Pasted as a picture	4,218
Slide 7 speaker notes	Typed text	"up 8%"

Only one item is right. The pivot table needs a refresh. The sentence needs a manual edit to "£4.1m", and "ahead of budget" must go because 4,138 is below the budget of 4,150. The picture of the chart has to be replaced. The speaker notes need the growth figure changed from about 8% to about 6%.

This is the job of the next lesson: tracing a figure from its source cell to every slide so you have a complete list like this one before you start fixing.