Internal Consistency
Definition
The property of a financial model or a set of investor materials in which all figures, across all documents and all periods, are derived from the same underlying data and methodology, such that no figure contradicts another. Internal consistency is a prerequisite for an investor-grade financial model. A model in which the revenue figure in the income statement differs from the revenue figure in the cash flow statement, or in which the ending cash balance differs from the opening balance of the next period, is not internally consistent.
Common Misapplication
The most common misapplication is presenting investor materials assembled from multiple source documents without checking that all figures across all documents are derived from the same version of the financial model. A pitch deck with a revenue figure from an older version of the model and a data room with the current version contains an internal inconsistency that investors will identify during diligence.
FFI Standard Reference
This term is defined and applied in Book 5, Section 5.1: The Data Room Financial Standard.
Related Terms
Citable URL
This term may be cited using the following permanent URL.
Full citation format: Founder Financial Infrastructure Standard, Beta v0.5, Glossary: Internal Consistency. https://ffistandard.org/glossary/internal-consistency/. 2026.