ARR Schedule and Reconciliation Template
Every difference between the ARR you report and the revenue in your accounts, priced, with the contracts behind each one named.
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Committed vs Recognized
[Company] — ARR at [date] bridged to revenue for the year
Two kinds of difference, and they are received completely differently. Timing is arithmetic. Quality is judgement.
| Line | Amount | Basis | Ties to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reported ARR at the measurement date | — | Management metric | Waterfall closing balance |
| Less quality adjustments | — | Six categories | Metric Adjustments total |
| Clean exit ARR | — | Adjusted metric | What a buyer will use |
| Less exit run rate against the year of it | — | Timing | Monthly run rate |
| Recurring GAAP revenue | — | GAAP | Revenue by type |
| Plus non-recurring revenue never in ARR | — | GAAP | Services revenue |
| GAAP revenue for the year | — | GAAP | Audited income statement |
The six questions every rebuild asks
| Short contracts annualised | Does the metric report more than the contract is worth |
| Point-in-time licences | Is up-front revenue sitting inside a recurring measure |
| Served non-renewal notices | Is a customer who has already quit still counted |
| Non-recurring services | Is anything recognised once being annualised |
| Usage overage | Was the measurement month the best month |
| Signed but not live | Is this a run rate or a bookings number |
All six have been put to a public filer in writing by the SEC staff, which is why the analyst rebuilding your number already knows to ask them.
Nobody disputes an ARR number in diligence. They rebuild it, and then they ask why theirs is smaller. Aldergate Software reported 24,600,000 at the end of 2026 against GAAP revenue of 18,940,000. The two sit 5,660,000 apart, which is 29.9 percent of revenue. Part of that gap is structural and part of it is not, and a buyer's analyst separates the two in about a day. The questions they use are already public, and they are the same ones every time.
Six categories came off: short contracts annualised past their own committed value, term licences that recognise up front, seven renewal notices already served, services inside the recurring line, usage counted off December, and contracts signed but not live. That is 5,263,000, or 21.4 percent of the headline. Every one is a question the SEC staff has put to a filer in writing. It told Alteryx to rename its measure over the first of them.
Applied to both ends of the year, net revenue retention falls from 105.7 percent to 98.4 percent and crosses the line that prices the business. The cohorts invert too, since 2025 looked weakest at 108.7 and is the strongest at 105.0, while 2022 has fallen to 91.6. Both bases run on the same population, which is the only way the comparison means anything. Pair it with the revenue recognition policy pack for the contract determinations sitting underneath, and the monthly close pack for the ledger it all ties back to.
What's in the pack
ARR Waterfall sheet
Opening, new, expansion, contraction, churn and closing, run twice on the same population, with both opening balances restated and three separate proofs that the columns tie.
Metric Adjustments sheet
Six priced categories, each with a contract count, the source record behind it and the letter where a regulator put that question to a filer. Plus what was left in and why.
Committed vs Recognized sheet
The bridge from reported ARR to audited revenue, separating the structural timing line from the judgement, then the two minute comparison against your own committed backlog.
Churn and Expansion sheet
Every movement broken into its causes, with the largest single item on each line, so the difference between the two columns is attributable rather than assumed.
Cohort Retention sheet
Retention by acquisition year on both bases, using only customers held at the start, with three ties proving the table against the waterfall at both ends.
Metric Definitions Note
Written before the numbers are calculated, carrying the definition, the calculation, why it is useful and how management uses it, which is what the SEC asks a metric to disclose.
How ARR Breaks in Diligence
The six standard questions, who each was asked of, and the free test against the remaining performance obligation you already disclose in the accounts.
ARR to Revenue Bridge Note
The narrative version for a board pack or a data room, explaining why the timing half is arithmetic and the quality half is what turns diligence investigative.
Space rule
Every metric carries its bridge. ARR appears next to GAAP revenue with the lines between them, or it does not appear, in the board pack and the data room alike.
How to use it
- 1
Open in River, or download it
Open the pack in River and let the agent build it from your own subscription records, or download the blank Word and CSV files instantly with no account.
- 2
Write the definitions first
What counts as recurring, how short contracts are handled, whether usage is included. Doing this after the numbers exist turns a definition into a justification.
- 3
Run the waterfall twice
Reported and adjusted on the same population, both opening balances restated. Then prove it three ways before anything downstream is worth reading.
- 4
Price the gap and bridge it
Six categories with a contract count each, then the reconciliation to audited revenue, then the comparison against your own remaining performance obligation.
Frequently asked questions
Is this template free?
Yes, all of it. Word documents and CSV sheets, no signup, no card. Edit with AI is a separate optional route for anyone who would rather hand over a billing export than retype one. Everything else River publishes sits in the template library.
Why reconcile ARR to GAAP revenue at all?
Because ARR is not a GAAP measure, no auditor signs it, and two companies with identical books can publish figures thirty percent apart. The bridge is what makes the number mean something, and a buyer builds it whether or not you have.
Should ARR ever exceed GAAP revenue?
For a growing company, yes. An exit run rate measured on one day sits above the twelve months that produced it, and that part needs one sentence. The rest is judgement, and judgement traces back to the contracts, which is what the ASC 606 contract memo settles.
What is the fastest sanity check?
Put reported ARR next to the remaining performance obligation in your own financial statements. That disclosure is every dollar contractually owed from the reporting date forward. If a twelve month run rate exceeds it, the metric is measuring something other than committed revenue. A cancellable contract carries almost none of it, which the timing flag review prices before signature.
Can month-to-month contracts be annualised?
They can, on a stated basis with the renewal history disclosed next to the number. The SEC staff pressed Datadog on exactly this along with whether monthly usage counts as recurring at all. Both are answerable, and neither answers itself.
Why restate the opening balance too?
Because an adjusted closing balance against a reported opening balance produces a growth rate and a retention rate that are both meaningless. Aldergate's opening balance moves by 2,540,000 and its closing balance by 5,263,000, and only the difference between those flows through the movement lines.
What format are the downloaded files?
Three .docx documents covering the definitions, the diligence questions and the bridge narrative, plus five .csv sheets, all zipped into one file. Everything opens natively in Word, Pages, Google Docs, Excel, Numbers and Sheets, with no conversion step in between.
Build the rebuild before someone else does
Download the blank pack as Word and CSV files, or open this exact pack in River and let the agent price the gap between your metric and your accounts.
Edit with AI