Gate 04 · Strategic Planning Architecture™

TRANSLATE — Financial line of sight

Which P&L and balance-sheet lines does each element move, and by how much?

Step 01: The Gate

Binary pass criteria. Every one, or the gate is closed.

Pass criteria

  • Every element is tied to at least one financial line.
  • The arithmetic is shown — volume, rate, mix or cost — not asserted as a percentage.
  • The sum of element effects reconciles to the plan's financial commitment.

Evidence required

  • Line-by-line effect table: line, direction, amount, period, assumption.
  • Reconciliation to the budget or forecast of record.

Owner: Chief financial officer

Step 02: The Failure Mode

How this gate is quietly skipped.

The tell

The strategy adds to more improvement than the P&L has room for.

The counter

Reconciliation is a gate, not a footnote: unreconciled effects are cut.

Step 03: The Action

Existing Compass instruments that do this work.

Not sure where to start?

Three questions, and we point you to the right instrument.

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