Attribution Reconciliation: A Month-End Report That Matches the Ad Platforms

The month-end report says one thing, the platforms say another

The attribution report is a Google Sheet with one row per campaign and twelve columns, from spend and conversions to cost per acquisition, the channel, the source of each figure, the channel ceiling and the flag. Thirty rows across six channels. Every figure is meant to agree with Google Analytics for conversions and with Meta Ads for paid social spend, within a tolerance the analytics lead sets.

It rarely agrees on the first try. Meta counts conversions on its own attribution window and Google Analytics on another, and a mis-tagged UTM puts a campaign in the wrong channel. The analyst's exceptions memo lists the rows they noticed, not every row that misses. Then the data refreshes, the tolerance changes, a UTM fix moves a campaign, and someone updates three cells in a row that has twelve.

Who works in the room

Month-end reconciliation happens in one Kylon room. Fin is the room's default agent because the numbers are its job, so a question about why a campaign's CPA moved reaches Fin without a mention. Nova reviews memos and writes to channel owners. Fin reads Google Analytics and Meta Ads through grants the analytics lead approved for the room, and splits the thirty rows across parallel helpers that each pull one campaign's figures and return one reconciled set. When a row will not reconcile from the data alone, Fin hands it to Nova with each source's figure side by side.

Month-end, row by row

Tolerance, channel CPA ceilings and column rules come from the report folder in Google Drive. One more rule lives in the room guidelines: a restated row is written whole, all twelve columns, never cell by cell.

When the data refreshes after the report is out

Google Analytics keeps attributing conversions for days after a campaign's spend has landed. When the refresh arrives, Fin re-derives only the rows the new data touches, twelve this month, but reports all thirty, so the analytics lead sees the restated rows next to the ones that held. A report that lists only what changed cannot show that the rest were checked.

A tolerance change or a UTM fix reaches further. A tighter tolerance can flag a row that passed last week, so every row is checked again. A UTM fix that moves a campaign from display to paid social changes two channels at once. In each case Fin proposes the complete row with every column filled from the current figures, because a row with a new CPA and last week's flag tells two different stories.

What the checks catch

• A restated row with new spend but last week's CPA and flag left in the other columns
• Campaigns that miss tolerance but were left out of the exceptions memo
• A refresh report that lists only the restated rows instead of all thirty
• A channel summary with five rows because one channel had nothing flagged
• A campaign moved to a new channel by a UTM fix but still counted in the old one

What stays with people

• Setting the tolerance and each channel's CPA ceiling
• Approving every restated row before it is written to the sheet
• Deciding with the channel owner whether a mismatch is a tagging problem or a real gap
• Signing off the month's channel summary

Integrations in this workflow

Kylon is not an analytics tool or an attribution product, and it does not replace either. It sits across Google Analytics, Meta Ads and the report sheet and holds the reconciliation between them.

• Gmail
• Google Analytics
• Google Drive
• Google Sheets
• Meta Ads
• Slack

• Google Analytics supplies conversions by source, medium and campaign
• Meta Ads supplies spend and platform-reported conversions for paid social
• Google Sheets holds the attribution report, written one full row at a time
• Google Drive keeps the tolerance, the channel ceilings and the analyst's exceptions memo
• Gmail carries questions to channel owners, sent by a person from Nova's drafts
• Slack is where channel owners answer quick questions about a campaign's tagging

Where to start

Reconcile last month's report before this month's. Connect Google Analytics and Meta Ads to the room, share the report sheet, and make this the rule in the room guidelines: a restated row is written in full, and only after the analytics lead approves it.

“Twelve rows changed. All thirty were checked, and the report shows it.”

Set it up with your agent

Open a new Room, add your agent and paste this prompt. It connects the tools, builds the App with you and asks for your rules one step at a time, and nothing goes out until a person approves it.