Financial data · governance
Numbers you can defend. Traced to the source, governed by finance.
Financial data governance built into the layer your numbers live in: role-based access control, a complete audit trail, and every figure traced to the source.
“added new ad spend for Q2”
The problem · version sprawl
One metric, three answers, and the audit is on the calendar.
Every finance leader knows the feeling of presenting a number they can't fully explain. It usually starts here.
Five versions of the truth
Every team keeps its own workbook, so the same metric shows a different number in every meeting.
Untracked changes
A formula gets edited somewhere in a shared file, and nobody can say who changed it, when, or why.
Audit season archaeology
Weeks go to reconstructing support: exports, screenshots, and email threads that prove where a number came from.
Audit season, the manual way
Exports, screenshots, and email threads, reconstructed weeks after the fact to prove where a number came from.
What one metric shows when every team keeps its own workbook.
What reconstructing audit support costs when it lives in exports and email threads.
What replaces it: one governed record, access enforced at the cell level, every change logged.
One source of truth
How financial data governance works in Cube.
Cube connects to hundreds of source systems, unifies the data into one governed layer, and delivers it to every surface your team works in, with permissions and lineage intact.
The Agentic Finance Layer
One governed record. Access enforced at the cell level, every change logged, every figure traceable to the transaction.
Governance you retrofit is governance you fight. Cube builds the controls into the layer the numbers already live in. Cube proposes. Finance approves.
Same source · scoped
Role-based access control, down to the cell.
Access is scoped by role and by dimension: account, department, entity, market, or territory. The CFO sees everything. A department head sees their cost center. An external auditor sees read-only with exec comp redacted.
| $K | Mar |
|---|---|
| Revenue | 4,410 |
| Operating expenses | 2,410 |
| ↳ Exec compensation | 240 |
| EBITDA | 2,000 |
| $K | Mar |
|---|---|
| Revenue | •••• |
| Operating expenses | •••• |
| ↳ Marketing programs | 284 |
| EBITDA | •••• |
| $K | Mar |
|---|---|
| Revenue | 4,410 |
| Operating expenses | 2,410 |
| ↳ Exec compensation | •••• |
| EBITDA | 2,000 |
On the record
One close, 1,214 logged events.
Every sync, plan edit, mapping change, and permission grant during the March close, logged with who, what, and when. Nothing gets overwritten, and the whole log exports for your auditor.
Why teams choose Cube
Defensible numbers, delivered at speed.
One version of every number
Reports, models, and AI answers pull from the same governed record, so the metric matches in every room.
Controls that travel with the data
Governance follows your numbers into spreadsheets, decks, and AI tools instead of living in a separate system nobody opens.
Audit-ready by default
SOC 2 Type II, cell-level permissions, and a complete audit trail. Any figure traces to the source transaction.
The metric matches in every room
Reports, models, and AI answers pull from the same governed record, so the number you present is the number everyone else has.
Up and running
Easy to adopt, hard to outgrow.
Cube deploys alongside the stack you already run, and finance owns the setup from day one, without waiting on outside consultants.
Finance-led setup
Configured by your team, guided by ours.
Of sources
Hundreds of source systems, with pre-built connectors for major platforms.
Rip-and-replace
Your ERP, spreadsheets, and BI tools stay exactly where they are.
Onboarding
Hands-on setup with a named contact.
Deployed alongside the stack you run
Your ERP, spreadsheets, and BI tools stay exactly where they are. Finance owns the setup from day one, without outside consultants.
Cube in action
Governance you can watch working.
Six controls running in one layer, and every one of them shows up live on the demo.
Complete audit trail
Every change to data, mappings, and models logged with who, what, and when.
Cell-level access
The CFO sees everything. A department head sees their cost center. An auditor sees read-only.
Trace to the source
Any figure opens to the GL transactions behind it, with nothing hidden in a black box.
Version control
Locked snapshots of every close, forecast, and board pack, kept as an immutable record.
Approval workflows
Mapping and model changes are proposed, reviewed, and approved before they land.
Governed AI
FP&Agents and the MCP Server answer only from the governed record, with your permissions enforced.
Governance that keeps working after hours
Every sync, mapping change, and permission grant lands in the audit trail with who, what, and when, whether anyone is watching or not.
Use cases
Where governed data goes to work.
Audit preparation
Hand the auditor a governed record instead of a folder of screenshots and exports.
Month-end close reporting
Close reports pull from synced actuals, with every figure traceable to the GL.
Board reporting
Board packs where every number ties, and any question drills to the source.
SOX & internal controls
Access reviews, change logs, and version history that map to your control framework.
Multi-entity consolidation
One governed roll-up across entities and currencies, with eliminations traceable.
Governed AI rollout
Give every AI tool the same permissioned, decision-ready data foundation.
See it on your own data.
Bring one report your team assembles by hand. We'll walk through the governed version.
Enterprise · controls
Answers for the security review and the audit alike.
Access someone can't scope is access finance can't grant. Cube treats governance as a product feature, documented in full on our security page and the Cube Trust Center.
Read-only connections
Cube pulls from your source systems and never writes back to the GL.
SSO & SAML
Enterprise sign-on with role-based access built in.
Cell-level permissions
Scoped by role and by dimension: department, entity, or territory.
Complete audit trail
Who, what, and when, on every change to data, mappings, and models.
Version locks
Immutable snapshots at every close and forecast.
Encryption everywhere
Encrypted at rest and in transit, built on AWS.
Trace to the source
Every number opens.
The auditor asks where a figure came from. The answer is a click and the list of transactions behind it, with nothing to reconstruct.
| Mar 04 | AWS | usage · Mar | NetSuite | $138.2K |
| Mar 11 | Datadog | annual true-up | NetSuite | $96.4K |
| Mar 27 | Snowflake | usage · Mar | NetSuite | $41.8K |
| + 38 more transactions | ||||
Hand the auditor a governed record instead of a folder of screenshots and exports.Financial data governance · Cube
Already convinced? Book a demo. Still researching? The rest of this page is the deep end: the definition, the hard parts, and what to look for.
The definition
What is financial data governance?
Financial data governance
Financial data governance is the set of controls that keeps a company's numbers consistent, secure, and traceable: one governed source of truth, role-based access to it, and a complete record of who changed what, when, and why. Governed financial data can be trusted in any report, model, or AI answer because every figure ties back to the source transaction.
For FP&A teams, that turns work like financial consolidation, board reporting, and audit prep from reconstruction projects into byproducts of the daily workflow.
The controls
What relies on it
The hard part
Why is financial data governance difficult?
The tools finance runs on were never built to govern themselves. Each gap below has a fix in Cube.
Data lives everywhere
ERP, HRIS, CRM, and dozens of workbooks each hold a piece. Cube unifies them into one governed layer.
Spreadsheets have no memory
A cell edit leaves no record. Cube logs every change with who, what, and when.
Access is all or nothing
Workbook sharing can't redact a row. Cube enforces permissions at the cell level.
Versions multiply
"Final_v7" is nobody's idea of version control. Cube locks a snapshot at every close and forecast.
Audit prep is archaeology
Reconstructing support after the fact takes weeks. Cube keeps the lineage as the work happens.
AI raises the stakes
An ungoverned model answers from whatever it finds. Cube's FP&Agents answer only from the governed record.
Side by side
Spreadsheet-managed vs governed in Cube.
| Spreadsheet-managed | Governed in Cube | |
|---|---|---|
| Source of truth | ✕One per workbook, per team, per version | ✓One governed record every surface pulls from |
| Change history | ✕The last saved value, and nothing else | ✓Every change logged with who, what, and when |
| Access control | ✕Share the file or don't | ✓Role-based, enforced at the cell level |
| Audit preparation | ✕Weeks of reconstruction after the fact | ✓Lineage kept as the work happens |
| AI readiness | ✕Ungoverned files feeding ungoverned answers | ✓Permissioned, traceable data at every AI endpoint |
A spreadsheet remembers the last value. An audit needs the whole story.
The parts
What does financial data governance include?
Six components, whether you build them or buy them.
Data quality & consistency
One definition of every metric, mapped once from the source systems.
Access control
Who can see and change what, scoped by role and enforced by the system.
Audit trail
A complete, queryable record of every change to data, mappings, and models.
Version control
Locked snapshots of closes, forecasts, and board packs as immutable history.
Compliance support
Controls and evidence that map to SOC 2, SOX, and your audit framework.
AI governance
The same permissions and lineage applied to every AI tool that touches the data.
The field guide
Financial data governance best practices.
Vendor-neutral, and worth doing whatever you run.
Establish one source of truth
All reporting, planning, and AI access pulls from a single governed dataset.
Grant least-privilege access
Scope access by role, and review the grants on a regular cadence.
Log every change
Who, what, and when, on data, mappings, and models, with no exceptions.
Lock versions at every close
Keep an immutable snapshot of what was reported, when it was reported.
Govern AI like people
Give AI tools the same permissions and lineage requirements as any user.
The checklist
What to look for in financial data governance software.
Six requirements that separate a governed layer from a reporting tool with settings.
A complete audit trail out of the box
Not an add-on module, and not a log you have to assemble.
Cell-level, role-based permissions
Scoping by workbook or dashboard is too coarse for finance data.
Lineage from report to transaction
Any published figure should open to the GL transactions behind it.
Works inside your existing tools
Governance that requires leaving Excel gets bypassed by Friday.
SOC 2 Type II and SSO/SAML
Table stakes for anything that holds your financial record.
AI governance from the start
Every AI endpoint should inherit the same permissions and traceability.
Walk into the audit already ready.
Book a demo and drill any figure to the transactions behind it, live.
Personalized to your stack and your close calendar.
