Driver
In accounting, driver means an input assumption a forecast line is computed from — a growth rate, days of receivables, headcount, price — rather than typed. Changing a driver moves every line that depends on it.
Also called Forecast driver.
Not a rule. FP&A convention — not codified. US GAAP governs recognition, measurement and presentation, not bookkeeping mechanics. Sources
The lesson that teaches this
From the free founder back-office course, taught on one company's books, with exercises to work it yourself.
Driver, in use
Quoted from the 2 documents that use the word: what it does to an interface, in the spec's own words.
Where a caller marks cells editable (a driver model's projected inputs, never its actuals or computed rows), a cell opens on double-click or Enter and accepts what a spreadsheet accepts, including 1.2k, (1,240) and =1200+340.
FluxAnalysis asks for a driver alongside the free text.
What it is not called
Each of these means something else. Use one here and an accountant reading the product notices.
- plug
- hardcode
Components that render this
These components name it in their spec, grouped and labeled exactly as the catalog shows them.
Components that render the terms it depends on
Few components name this concept outright, but it's built from terms they do name. These render forecast.
Also in Finance & planning
Defined in Lexicon. This page is generated from that document, so the two can't disagree.