---
title: "Check every site and period was returned | Certant"
description: "Certant lays the sites and periods you expect beside the returns you hold, links each reported figure to its page and marks every missing return."
url: "https://certant.ai/use-cases/regulatory-return-gaps"
---

For compliance reporting teams

# Check every site and period was returned

Certant lays the sites and periods you expect beside the returns you hold, links each reported figure to its page and marks every gap.

[See it on your documents](https://certant.ai/contact-sales?topic=use-case) [See how Strata works](https://certant.ai/strata)

A missing return is shown as a gap and is never filled with an estimate.

Quarterly returns, financial year 2025–26Example

| Site | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northgate Depot | Returned | Returned | Returned | Returned |
| Southbank Office | Returned | Returned | Returned | Returned |
| Eastfield Works | Returned | Returned | No return | Returned |
| Westmere Yard | Returned | Returned | Returned | Returned |

_The expected grid beside what was returned._

The problem

## The total hides a missing return

Forty sites each owe a return every quarter. When one is missing, the consolidated spreadsheet still adds up, so the gap tends to surface when an auditor asks for that site's figures.

By then the quarter is long closed and the person who would have filed it may have moved on.

The documents

## What Certant reads

The schedule sets what you expect, and the returns show what arrived.

| Document | What it supplies |
|---|---|
| Returns | The figures each site reported for each period, from PDFs or spreadsheets. |
| Reporting schedule | The sites and periods you expect, from your own approved schedule. |
| Approved limits | Optional. Any limit written in your approved material that a reported figure should be checked against. |

The result

## Compare expected with returned

Quarterly returns, financial year 2025–26Example

| Site | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northgate Depot | Returned | Returned | Returned | Returned |
| Southbank Office | Returned | Returned | Returned | Returned |
| Eastfield Works | Returned | Returned | No return | Returned |
| Westmere Yard | Returned | Returned | Returned | Returned |

### Detail for Northgate Depot, Q2

- Waste to landfill**42.6 tonnes**
- SourceNorthgate Depot Q2 return · table 1 · page 3

### Detail for Eastfield Works, Q3

- No return held for this site and period.
- DecisionInvestigate
- Recorded byCompliance reporting lead · 3 Nov 2026

_Fifteen returns are held and one is missing. The decision to investigate is kept on the record with the gap._

The decision

## Record what you decided to do

For each gap, a reviewer chooses what happens: investigate, request the return, or note that the site was exempt for the period. Certant drafts the request and keeps the decision, the person and the date.

Proposed requestExample

**To**

Eastfield Works site manager

**Draft**

"We hold no Q3 return for Eastfield Works. Q2 and Q4 are on file. Please send the Q3 return, or confirm whether one was lodged."

Waiting for approval · Compliance reporting lead

Scope

## What setup involves

You give us the reporting schedule and the returns you hold. Limit checks are added only where the limit is written in a document you've approved.

| Area | What to expect |
|---|---|
| Purpose | This checks completeness and keeps the evidence. It isn't a certificate of regulatory compliance. |
| Obligations | Certant works from your approved schedule. It doesn't infer a legal obligation or a deadline that isn't in your source documents. |
| Filing | It doesn't lodge a return with a regulator. |

Related

## Related use cases

### Water monitoring reports

Readings from monitoring PDFs, checked against your documented limits.

[See the use case](https://certant.ai/use-cases/water-monitoring-reports)

### Roster reporting gaps

Sites that haven't sent a roster return.

[See the use case](https://certant.ai/use-cases/roster-reporting-gaps)

### Board reporting evidence

A board-pack figure traced to the table or export behind it.

[See the use case](https://certant.ai/use-cases/analyst-first-chair)

[See all use cases](https://certant.ai/use-cases)

## Bring last year's returns

Send us your reporting schedule and a year of returns. We'll show you the grid, with each figure linked to its page and each gap marked.

[See it on your documents](https://certant.ai/contact-sales?topic=use-case) [See how Strata works](https://certant.ai/strata)

Strata is a paid add-on for the Business plan and above. Certant Cloud, your cloud, or fully air-gapped.