Please see the response below that was received from the analyst regarding your missing April payment.
Explanation from Contango yesterday June 5, 2024.
For some reason I find this highly irregular. Any thoughts out there?
“THE OWNER DIDN’T RECEIVE PAYMENT IN APRIL DUE TO SOME PRIOR PERIOD ADJUSTMENTS MADE BY CONTANGO WHICH RESULTED IN A REDUCTION IN PAYABLE ACCRUED REVENUE FOR OWNERS IN CERTAIN MIDCON/UNCONVENTIONAL WELLS DUE TO A 2021/2022 OVERPAYMENT. CORRECTIONS TO JUNE 2022 REV WERE FOR DISBURSEMENTS BEING DOUBLED OR TRIPLED IN ERROR, AND CORRECTIONS TO DEC 2021 - OCT 2022 DISBURSEMENTS WERE CAUSED BY INCORRECT VOLUMES AND PRICING ERROUNEOUSLY INFLATING OWNER REVENUE. THEY WERE ISSUED PAYMENT IN MAY ON 5/28.”
Summary is that accounting department had a major screw-up by caused by someone entering wrong data, either volumes or prices or both, starting in Dec 2021. The cumulative overpayments exceeded your current revenues so current royalty balance is negative. Looks like you got paid this month and the check stub should have extensive detail reversing and rebooking all the bad entries. Companies regularly audit their records and make prior period adjustments (called PPA). At one point, Shell made adjustments on gas volumes and prices going back 6 years.
Yes, thank you TennisDaze for your thoughts! - Indeed, I did get a check this month for May, but not April. What really threw me for a loop was when I received the Check Detail - 22 pages of adjustments versus the normal 4 or so pages of regular check detail.
Apparently, companies do not “regularly” audit their books or it wouldn’t date back to December 2021. Very familiar with Prior Period Adjustments, as I am a CPA and a retired auditor. Luckily, I finally got an answer after sending emails all over the place to determine the issue.