Sourcing
Every numerical claim published on The Expenditure traces back to a primary document. A primary document is one issued, signed, or filed by the entity to whom the figure is attributed. This includes earnings releases, annual reports, regulatory filings, audited financial statements, signed contracts disclosed publicly, government budget bills, and official statistical publications.
Reporting by other media outlets is not a primary source. When another outlet breaks a story, we wait until the underlying document is available before we publish.
Verification
Before a record is published it is verified through a three-step process: the figure is located in the primary document and the citation is recorded; the figure is checked against at least one independent secondary source for consistency; the figure is contextualized against its previous benchmark.
Classification
Every record is assigned exactly one of five classifications: All-Time, Historic First, World Record, Category Leader, or Comparative. Classifications are not interchangeable.
Corrections
If a figure is published incorrectly, the correction appears at the top of the record with the date of correction, the original figure, the corrected figure, and the reason for the change. We do not silently edit.
Right of Reply
Entities named in our records may contact us to provide additional context, dispute interpretation, or correct factual errors. Substantive responses are appended to the record under a clearly marked section.