Step-by-Step Guide to Month-End Close + Free Checklist

If you have accounting software, you can generate these reports easily and avoid a ton of manual work. Ideally, reconcile your petty cash fund daily or weekly because small payments are easy to miss. Many organizations hold short-term assets that aren’t as liquid as cash.

F&A teams have embraced their expanding roles, but unprecedented demand for their time coupled with traditional manual processes make it difficult for F&A to execute effectively. Global brands and the fastest growing companies run Oracle and choose BlackLine to accelerate digital transformation. BlackLine delivers comprehensive solutions that unify accounting and finance operations across your Oracle landscape. Retailers are recalibrating their strategies and investing in innovative business models to drive transformation quickly, profitably, and at scale.

Create a closing schedule

Cross reference invoices and bank statements to check for inaccuracies and that you aren’t missing any outstanding customer payments. If there’s a payment missing, send the customer a reminder of the amount due and apply any late fees as necessary. The year-end close process is the same as the month-end process, except you’re accounting for a full year instead of the previous month. Also, in the year-end close process, income and expense accounts are “reset” in preparation for a new year-to-date account.

Bench assumes no liability for actions taken in reliance upon the information contained herein. If you’re just starting, you can use Excel spreadsheets for bookkeeping. If tax work is overwhelming, we offer tax preparation and tax filing services as well. With Bench, you’ll get unlimited year-round tax support to stay on top of your taxes. If you need more time to pay your suppliers, negotiate better credit terms in advance.

Make  business decisions

There’s tons of activity in inventory accounts, especially at the end of the month when sales teams are trying to hit monthly goals. For many entrepreneurs and small business owners, performing a monthly close seems like a lot of unnecessary work, especially when you’re out there hustling to make things happen. But getting an accurate picture of your business’ performance every month is the first step to take if you want to work on your business, not just in it.

• Month-end reports should also contain a month-over-month comparison of important business metrics to evaluate performance compared to the previous month.
• Standardize, accelerate, and centrally manage accounting processes – from month-end close tasks to PBC checklists – with hierarchical task lists, role-based workflows, and real-time dashboards.
• The month-end process starts just before the end of every month, when you’re doing prep work like wrapping up outstanding vendor invoices.
• If there’s a payment missing, send the customer a reminder of the amount due and apply any late fees as necessary.
• Cross reference invoices and bank statements to check for inaccuracies and that you aren’t missing any outstanding customer payments.

Oftentimes a company plans to dispose of these assets in less than one year. Depending on your team’s speed, the tools you use, and the processes you follow, your month-end close process will likely take anywhere from five to 10 days. FloQast’s suite of easy-to-use and quick-to-deploy solutions enhance the way accounting teams already work.

Month-End Close Process Checklist: How to Get Through Your Financial Close Efficiently

It is essential to ensure that your accounting data is as accurate and complete as possible. The month-end close involves your finance and accounting teams collecting, reviewing and reconciling the previous month’s transactions and financial activity. Every small business has bills to pay and most of the time these short-term obligations come with a grace period to remit payment businesscommunicationblog com to the vendor. Similar to its asset counterpart, accounts receivable, accounts payable (AP) is closely scrutinized by auditors who are trying to ensure that the ending AP balance is complete and not understated. If an app, bank feed, or another part of your accounting procedures isn’t working correctly, it’s vastly easier to straighten out the problem when you catch it early.

• This Month End Close checklist is a simple and easier way to provide detail of every step in a process which will allow you to keep things organised.
• Check if you’ve recorded all your incoming cash during the month and capture any missing items.
• BlackLine Magazine provides daily updates on everything from companies that have transformed F&A to new regulations that are coming to disrupt your day, week, and month.

We’re offering a free month-end closing template to help you and your team get the job done efficiently, every time. If your organization makes purchases using a corporate credit card, it’s often a good idea to reconcile those statements early in your closing process as well. Again, this is a common area in which you may find transactions not previously recorded. Employees who make purchases using the corporate card may often fail to report such transactions or turn in their receipts; which can lead to a discrepancy between the expected balance and your monthly credit card bill. Standardize, accelerate, and centrally manage accounting processes – from month-end close tasks to PBC checklists – with hierarchical task lists, role-based workflows, and real-time dashboards. The month-end closing process is critical to any business but can be very time-consuming.

What is a month end close process?

If possible, increase the dollar limit for certain transactions to avoid pointless recording. Even after entering data into the system, your accounting team still needs to ensure the information is accurate across all platforms. One of the challenges we face in completing month-end closing tasks is that manually entering data is time consuming. While you may have multiple systems in place to help run your business, it is more likely that they will ultimately run independently. However, delays in issuing financial statements may delay management’s awareness of significant performance and liquidity issues that need addressing sooner.