Corrections and clawbacks
Who this is for: admins fixing a payout after it was published, and reps who see a correction or a recoverable balance on their statement. Read Run your first payout first if you are new to publishing.
A published payout is never edited. The rep has been told, and the number is frozen. Earnest instead posts a correcting entry forward into an open month, linked back to the period it corrects.
Choosing how to fix published pay
| The problem | Use | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue or credit for the period was wrong (a deal was missed, credited to the wrong rep, or entered at the wrong amount) | Recompute Correction | Payout detail page of the published payout |
| A flat amount is owed or overpaid (a missed SPIFF, a bonus paid twice) | Add Amendment (a fixed amount) | Payout detail page |
| You want to add revenue to the rep's next open month instead, priced under that month's plan | Adjust on the published row, type Revenue Adjustment | Payouts table |
| A rep disputed the payout | Resolve the dispute with a correction amount | Review → Disputes |
Recompute Correction is the accurate choice for a revenue error. It prices the change through the period's real tiers and cap. An amendment adds or removes exactly the amount you type.
To open a payout's detail page, pick its month in Payouts, click the rep's row, then click Open payout in the breakdown. See the payout detail page.
Recompute corrections: fixing a wrong revenue figure
- Open the published payout (its row in Payouts, then Open payout) and click Recompute Correction.
- If the period was split between two plans, enter the Deal close date. The dialog shows which plan prices it: "Priced under [plan] — its quota, tiers and cap for [days]."
- Enter the Revenue correction in the rep's quota currency (on a unit plan, a count). Positive means under-credited, negative means over-credited. Enter the revenue change, not a commission amount. The limit is 1,000,000 either way.
- Read the preview: "Estimated commission change: +$X posted to the current open period." If nothing changes: "No commission change for this correction (e.g. the period was capped)."
- Enter a Reason (up to 1,000 characters) and click Recompute & Post.
The confirmation reads "Correction posted: +$X to the current open period." A correction that changes nothing writes nothing: "Recompute produced no commission change for this correction."
How the amount is worked out
Earnest loads the frozen plan snapshot for the period, prices the commission at the original revenue and at the corrected revenue, and posts the difference. Because both sides go through the same tiers, accelerators, cap and floor, the result is exact.
Worked example. A rep's plan pays 10%, with a 2.0× accelerator above quota. The quota is $100,000 and the period was published at $100,000 of revenue: $10,000 commission. A late deal means it should have been $120,000.
| Commission | |
|---|---|
| At $120,000: $10,000 + ($20,000 × 10% × 2.0) | $14,000 |
| At $100,000 | $10,000 |
| Correction posted | $4,000 |
A flat 10% of the $20,000 would have posted $2,000 and missed the accelerator.
Corrections stack
A second correction to the same period is priced on top of the earlier ones, so tiers and the cap see the combined change. The preview says so: "Priced on top of 1 earlier correction to this period, so tiers and the cap see the combined change." If another admin posts one while your dialog is open: "Another correction to this period was posted while this one was open. Reopen the dialog to see the updated amount."
A double click or a retry is not posted twice. Earnest treats a correction with the same revenue change and the same reason as a duplicate until the month it landed in is paid. To post a real second correction of the same size, give it a different reason.
Managers are not corrected automatically
A recompute corrects this rep only. When the rep had a manager in that period, the preview adds: "This corrects this rep only. Their manager(s) in that period may be owed an override on the same revenue: [names]. Apply the same revenue correction on their payout." Each name links to the manager's payout.
Where the money lands
The correction is posted as an approved fixed amount in the rep's quota currency, in their first open month, and is converted to their payout currency when that month is generated. There is no month picker. If that month already has a draft, the draft is now out of date: regenerate it before you publish, or it is held.
When a recompute is refused
Some periods can't be replayed exactly. Earnest refuses rather than post an approximate number:
| Message (shortened) | What to do |
|---|---|
| "Only a published payout can be corrected - edit the draft directly instead." | Change the data and regenerate the draft. |
| "This payout predates faithful snapshots and cannot be recomputed…" | Post an amendment for the difference. |
| "This period spanned multiple plan versions mid-quarter…" | Post an amendment. |
| "This payout was priced on a team plan mix…" | Post an amendment. |
| "This period was an onboarding ramp month paid at a flat rate with the tier schedule disabled…" (or the quarter contained one) | Post an amendment. |
| "This payout's frozen record does not say which days each plan covered…" | Post an amendment. |
| "This payout is a mid-quarter month of a quarterly-evaluation plan, and [Month] is already published and priced the quarter to date after it." | Recompute on the later month's payout. |
| "…[Month] re-prices the quarter to date, so a recompute here cannot price the correction at the quarter's final attainment." | Post a revenue adjustment dated in that month, or recompute on it once published. |
| "This period already has a recompute correction that predates cumulative pricing…" | Post the difference as a manual adjustment. |
A payout split by close date (a mid-period plan change) can be recomputed; that is what the Deal close date field is for.
Amendments: a fixed amount against a closed period
On the published payout's detail page, click Add Amendment. The Create Amendment dialog takes an Amount in the rep's payout currency ("Positive = Bonus, Negative = Clawback") and a Reason, then Record Amendment. The amount is posted to the rep's current open month and tagged as an amendment to this period.
From the payouts table, Adjust on a published row does the same. The dialog warns "This period is closed — the adjustment will be applied as an amendment in [Month], the rep's next open period." Here you can also choose Revenue Adjustment, which counts toward the plan in that later month.
Every amendment's reason is prefixed with the month it corrects, for example "[AMENDMENT to Mar 2026] Missed SPIFF".
Limits:
- Amendments only reach back into past months: "Cannot add adjustments to a published payout in the current/future period."
- Bulk Upload does not amend. A row for a published month is refused and names the rep's email.
- As with every correction, regenerate the landing month's draft if it already has one.
Dispute awards
Resolving a dispute with a Correction amount creates an approved correction in the month chosen under Posts to statement. It skips the approval queue. The disputed payout is not changed. See Review, approvals and disputes.
The corrections ledger
Every correcting entry records its kind and the payout it corrects:
| Kind | Created by |
|---|---|
| True-up | A recompute correction that comes out positive |
| Clawback | A recompute correction that comes out negative |
| Amendment | An adjustment added against a published month |
| Dispute | A dispute resolved with a correction amount |
Admin view. The corrected payout's detail page shows an "Amended" banner, for example "A +$4,000 correction for this period was posted forward to the April 2026 open period. This paid statement is unchanged.", and a table with Type, Amount, Posted to and Reason. A revenue correction shows "(revenue credit)".
Rep view. The corrected payout's page shows "Correction posted", saying which statement it went to and that "This finalized statement is unchanged." On the statement that receives it, the entry is a line under Manual Adjustments. Amendments carry the "[AMENDMENT to …]" prefix and dispute awards start "Dispute resolution:". True-ups and clawbacks show the reason the admin typed.
Clawbacks and recoverable balances
Sometimes a period nets out negative: a deal was reversed, or a correction takes money back.
A rep is never asked to pay cash back. The disbursed payout is floored at zero. Whatever is left over becomes a recoverable balance. It carries forward, and the rep's future positive earnings pay it down until it is gone.
Where it shows
- Publish dialog: the draft is flagged clawback carried forward.
- Statement PDF: the Final Payout section shows "Carried forward to future periods" in the period that created the balance, and "Recovered from prior overpayment" in each period that pays it down.
- Rep's payout page: a "Recoverable balance" note, for example "$1,200 of a prior overpayment was recovered from this period's earnings. $800 remains and will net against your future positive earnings — you are never charged cash back." When it reaches zero: "The balance is now fully paid down."
- Admin detail page: the matching "Recoverable balance" banner ("…the rep is never charged cash back.").
- Payroll export: amounts are never negative.
Worked example
A rep's March nets to -$2,000 after a reversed deal. March pays $0 and carries $2,000. April earns $1,500: all of it goes to the balance, April pays $0, and $500 carries. May earns $3,000: $500 clears the balance and May pays $2,500.
How the numbers relate
The balance is kept in the rep's payout currency. On a period with a clawback, the final payout does not equal gross earnings plus fixed bonuses. The gap is the amount held back by the zero floor and carried forward.
Quarter-to-date plans
On a plan evaluated quarter to date, negative commission in the first or second month of the quarter is not carried. The next month recalculates the quarter and nets it, and the statement shows "Deferred to this quarter's true-up". Negative fixed amounts (a clawback amendment, for example) still carry as usual, and so does a shortfall in the quarter's last month. A rep who leaves before the quarter ends has no later month, so their negative carries as a normal balance.
Regenerating inside a balance chain
Each period starts from the previous period's closing balance, so periods must be recalculated in order. Regenerating an earlier draft whose balance a later period already used is skipped: "[Name]: Skipped — a later period carries a recoverable balance that chains from this one. Delete the later period(s) and regenerate from this period forward." Deleting it is refused the same way.
FAQ
Should I use a plain Fixed Bonus to fix a revenue error? Only when Recompute Correction is refused. The recompute prices the change through the rep's real tiers; your arithmetic may not.
Why does the preview say there is no change? The original and corrected revenue price to the same commission, usually because both sit in a capped or flat part of the plan.
Does a correction change attainment for the corrected period? No. The published period keeps its numbers. The correction is a cash entry in a later month.
Can I choose which month a recompute correction lands in? No. It always goes to the rep's first open month.
Do I need to fix the manager too? Often, yes. Repeat the same revenue correction on each manager the preview names.
Is the recoverable balance on the PDF? Yes, in the Final Payout section, as described above.
Can an admin correct a period outside the dispute window? Yes. The window only limits what reps can dispute.