Short answer: a clean month-end close means reconciling every bank and card account, reviewing receivables and payables, recording accruals, and checking your reports before you send them to anyone.
The checklist
- Record all transactions. Enter every invoice, bill, expense and payment for the month.
- Reconcile bank and card accounts. Match each statement balance to your books.
- Review accounts receivable. Follow up on overdue invoices and note doubtful debts.
- Review accounts payable. Check that supplier bills are recorded and due dates are known.
- Record accruals and prepayments. Match income and costs to the month they belong to.
- Check payroll and tax liabilities. Confirm amounts owed are recorded.
- Review the trial balance. Look for unusual balances and miscoded items.
- Produce reports. Profit and loss, balance sheet and cash flow, compared with last month.
- Save and lock the period. Keep supporting documents and prevent late changes.
Where spreadsheets help
Reconciliations, ageing reports and variance checks are easy to automate in Excel or Google Sheets. See how to automate monthly reports.
Frequently asked questions
How long should a month-end close take?
It depends on volume and how current the books are. Keeping transactions up to date through the month makes the close much faster.
Can bookkeeping be done remotely?
Yes. Cloud accounting tools and shared folders allow bookkeeping to be done remotely and securely.
What if I find errors after closing?
Record a correcting entry in the current period and note the reason, rather than editing a closed period.
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