# Source correctness checklist

Use this for one proposed business record before accepting it. A shape check proves only the fields it checks. This worksheet grants no production or posting approval.

## Name the source and decision

- Proposed result and its purpose:
- Authoritative source, exact record ID, and revision:
- How the source's current status is established:
- Accountable source owner and independent reference approver:
- Relevant field: final total, estimate, subtotal, credit, or another defined amount:
- Currency, unit, and any approved rounding or conversion rule:
- Conditions that require rejection or human review:
- Permitted fallback and its owner:

## Separate the checks

| Check                  | Evidence or unresolved gap                                                      |
| ---------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Structure              | Required fields, types, allowed values, bounds, and no extra action fields      |
| Identity               | Proposal belongs to the expected invoice and source record                      |
| Revision               | Source revision is current for this decision; superseded values are excluded    |
| Meaning                | The selected field answers the question; a verbatim quote alone is insufficient |
| Currency and amount    | Both match the independently established reference, using explicit units        |
| Disagreement           | Conflicting, unreadable, missing, or stale evidence has a reject/escalate path  |
| Reference independence | Candidate output cannot supply its own expected answer or passing grade         |
| Action authority       | A checked draft remains a draft; any write needs its own authorized boundary    |

## Run a negative control

1. Start from a known correct proposal and a separately maintained reference.
2. Change only its amount, preserving valid structure and the original source quote.
3. Assert that the shape checker still passes and the source checker rejects it.
4. Repeat for wrong currency, wrong invoice identity, wrong source identity, and stale revision.
5. Check neighboring valid cases and record any false rejection introduced by the fix.

Record the candidate, checker, reference, case, and source revisions. Preserve the deliberately bad output and the check results. A public teaching fixture is not a protected holdout or evidence of population accuracy.

## Decide what happens next

- Checks passed, with evidence:
- Checks failed or remain unknown:
- Named decision owner:
- Disposition: accept this bounded draft / reject / escalate:
- Correction and regression case, if needed:
- Next permitted step and review date:

Never substitute a model's confidence, a valid schema, or a reviewer checkbox for source evidence. Verify consequential writes separately against the authoritative destination after the effect.