Finance fee amount columns must remain DECIMAL through the load. Which quality practice is correct?

Finance fee amount columns must remain DECIMAL through the load, with type checks that reject silent string coercion. DECIMAL preserves scale for municipal fee totals, refunds, and reconciliations; silent coercion to STRING (or float surprises) undermines sums, constraints, and downstream accounting exports. Enforcing type continuity from silver through gold is a core finance data-quality practice.

Enforcing that amount columns remain DECIMAL and round scale drift on load fails by concept: silent rounding masks scale changes and lets altered totals slip into production even if the type reads DECIMAL. Enforcing that amount columns remain DECIMAL and verifying scale only after serving marts pushes correctness to the last mile and yields inconsistent totals across tools. Enforcing that amount columns remain DECIMAL and auditing scale during monthly reviews removes timely guardrails county finance depends on because waiting weeks lets scale drift corrupt sums and reconciliations.

Exam caveat: Type enforcement belongs in the pipeline, not only in BI visuals. Prefer DECIMAL/NUMERIC for money; be wary of rounding scale drift or deferring scale checks until after serving marts or monthly reviews for currency. Schema checks should fail or quarantine on unexpected string amounts.

Operational check: Attempt a load where fee amount arrives as non-numeric text and confirm rejection or quarantine. Load valid DECIMAL amounts and reconcile SUM to cash-office totals. Inspect table schemas in silver/gold to prove amount columns remain DECIMAL end to end.