tie-outlisted

# Tie-out **"The query ran" is not "the number is right."** Mechanism success is not substance success. A pipeline that completes, a script that exits 0, a dashboard that renders, a file that saves — none of these are evidence about the figure. The only evidence is agreement with an independent source. This skill produces that evidence in a fixed, auditable shape. --- ## The core discipline Before you report any number, you must be able to answer four questions **with artifacts, not recollection**: 1. **Where did it come from?** Named system, named object, as-of timestamp. 2. **What happened to it?** Every filter, join, aggregation, currency conversion, and manual adjustment between source and output. 3. **Does it foot?** Does the total of the detail equal the reported total, and does the row count match expectation? 4. **Does it agree?** Does it match an independent source — the GL, a bank statement, a prior-period roll-forward, a vendor portal — within a threshold you stated in advance? If you cannot answer all four, the number is **unverified**. Label it that way. An unverified number presented as verified is the single most damaging thing this pack can produce. --- ## The tie-out block Every deliverable ships one. This is the fixed format — do not improvise a variant. ``` TIE-OUT | AR subledger to GL | period 2026-07 | as-of 2026-08-19T14:20Z SOURCE A bq://finance.ar_open_items WHERE close_period = '2026-07' rows 14,882 B sheets:GL_Extract