Reading a commission statement you did not design
No two carriers format statements the same way. These are the columns that matter and the labels they hide behind.
Find the commissionable base first
Columns labelled premium, target premium, annualized premium, and billed premium can all appear on one statement and mean different things. Identify which column your commission was actually calculated from before comparing anything.
Separate new business from renewal
Look for a period, duration, or policy-year field. Year 1 and year 2 commissions differ dramatically, and a renewal line judged against a new-business rate produces a false shortfall — which damages your credibility on the disputes that are real.
Watch for aggregated lines
Some carriers roll several transactions into one row per policy per period. When the math does not resolve on a single line, check whether it is a sum before assuming an error.
Keep the original file
Retyped numbers lose their authority. When you dispute, the carrier's own document is your strongest evidence, so keep the PDF or spreadsheet exactly as you received it.
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