How to model posting date when producing income statement semantic models

Typically finance teams want to know the posting date in relation to the fiscal period close, that is, postings:

• Between 1 and 3 days after the fiscal period close

• Which occurred before or after the fiscal period close

To achieve this, the semantic model requires 2 date dimensions:

1. Effective date - contains the fiscal dates

2. Posting date - combines the effective date and posting date to create a junk dimension

This approach means users can slice and dice the income statement by the effective date (i.e., show transactions for P2 2024) and the posting date (i.e., show transactions 1 day after the fiscal period closed). Users can also use these dimensions simultaneously, i.e., show postings 1 day after the P2 2024 fiscal period close. Typical attributes added to the dimension include:

• Grouping of days, i.e.., between 1 and 3 days after the close - often entities work on a close schedule such as -1 day, +3 days, and + 7 days

• Binary "is before month close" field with true/false flag so users can see financial results before and after adjustments

You can download the 10k+ views report to see this in practice. Logical and conceptual models can also be downloaded.