Reconciliation and exception management
Purpose. Define what “good” reconciliation looks like between CP authoritative data and DCA-reported data, how exceptions age, and when escalation is mandatory. Pair with CP / DCA files and Reporting data lineage. Recall is a primary control: see Recall and reassignment and Controls framework.
Core pairs to reconcile
- CP_Balance vs DCA_Reported_Balance: detect stale feeds, fee disputes, currency or rounding issues.
- CP_Status vs DCA_Reported_Status: placement open or closed, recall executed, legal hold.
- Arrangement status: active plan on CP must align to negotiation authority and suppression rules on both sides.
- Payments: cash collected by DCA versus CP allocation; timing cuts for month-end.
- Recalls: CP recall effective datetime versus DCA stop-work confirmation.
Cadence: daily, weekly, monthly
Daily: automated match on high-volume accounts; exception queue for breaks above trivial rounding; priority path for hardship or complaint-linked accounts.
Weekly: trend review: are breaks clustered by segment, vendor batch, or new code release? This is where silent systemic issues surface.
Monthly: governance reconciliation tied to Layer 3 close: open breaks aged, materiality, and owner sign-off for residual items.
What breaks look like
| Symptom | Common causes | First response |
|---|---|---|
| Balance drift after payment | Delayed CP payment feed to DCA; timezone batching | Hold outbound until feed applied or use CP balance in script |
| Arrangement mismatch | DCA agreed plan not yet on CP or CP broke plan unknown to DCA | Joint call list suppression; fix data; governance log if authority breach suspected |
| Payment mismatch | Split payments; chargebacks; fee netting differences | Trace payment ID; align remittance rules |
| Recall mismatch | RQT logged but CP recall not executed; DCA still dialling | Immediate stop work; SLA breach if conduct-sensitive |
Double contact and suppression risk
If recall is partial or flags disagree, customers can receive double contact or contact after hardship hold. Reconciliation is not only financial; it is a conduct control. Suppression lists should be driven from CP authoritative flags with SLA into DCA.
Exception logging and ageing
Each break should have: account, type, open date, owner, severity, target fix date, and link to issue category (see Issue taxonomy). Ageing buckets drive escalation: for example, conduct-sensitive breaks same day, financial materiality within 5 business days.
Thresholds for escalation
Set monetary and population thresholds for when a break stops being “ops cleanup” and becomes risk committee or finance notification. Thresholds should be explicit in policy, not invented in meetings.
Related: Governance · Back to pack home