The month-end close checklist
What a complete monthly close includes. Use it to see how yours compares.
| Reconciliation | Bank & credit card accounts reconciled to statements | |
| AR / AP | Accounts receivable reviewed and current | |
| AR / AP | Accounts payable reviewed and current | |
| Cutoff | Revenue recorded in the correct period (accruals/deferrals) | |
| Balance sheet | Prepaid expenses and fixed assets/depreciation handled | |
| Payroll | Payroll fully recorded, including accruals | |
| Review | Balance sheet reviewed for accounts that don't make sense | |
| Review | P&L reviewed against prior month and budget for surprises | |
| Output | Financial statements produced (P&L, balance sheet, cash) | |
| Timeliness | Close completed by the target date |
Check what your close currently includes. A tool from the Averan EOS finance library, an independent finance resource for the EOS community. Free to use and share. More at financeforeos.com.
Run this against your own close process. Gaps here, skipped reconciliations, no balance-sheet review, no target date, are usually why numbers arrive late or distrusted. For the full picture, read what a good month-end close looks like.
This is a self-assessment tool for discussion, not accounting, tax, or legal advice, and it does not account for your specific circumstances. Decisions about your accounting basis, tax treatment, or financial reporting belong with your CPA or qualified advisor.
What this measures
The close is the first link in the chain. Everything an EOS company does with numbers, the Scorecard, the forecast, the L10 conversation, runs on it landing when it is supposed to.
This is the checklist, in the order the work actually happens.
What to put in
- Bank and card reconciliations.
- Revenue cut off at the right date.
- Accruals for what was incurred but not billed.
- Payroll through the period end.
- Inventory or work in progress, if you carry either.
- Review before anyone sees the numbers.
How to read the answer
A close that lands on the same date every month is worth more than a faster close that moves.
If the Scorecard is being filled in before the close is done, the Scorecard is an estimate and should be labeled as one.
Where it usually goes wrong
- Treating the close as done when the statements print, rather than when someone has reviewed them.
- Leaving the date open. Pick the tenth, or the fifteenth, and hold it.
Questions this raises
- What a good monthly close looks like
- Which numbers belong on the Scorecard
- The finance seat maturity model
Owning the close on a date you can plan around is what a controller does.
Where this leaves your own numbers
If the close lands late, the Scorecard is an estimate, or nobody owns the numbers between L10s, that is the gap the finance seat fills. Start with the readiness check, or talk it through with us.
Book a consult →Next in the library
These pages are meant to be read in order, and each one assumes the one before it.
- Finance for EOSwhy the finance seat is the one seat with no agreed standard
- What the finance seat isthe seat, and what it owns
- Who owns finance in an EOS companyvisionary, integrator, or somebody else
Start anywhere
- The EOS finance libraryeverything here, in order
- The field guidesthe long-form versions
- The toolsdiagnostics and checklists that run in the browser
Outside the EOS frame
- Controller servicessomeone who owns the close and the reporting
- Bookkeeper, controller or CFOthe decision guide, by symptom and revenue
If you want this done for you
What happens next
The close, the Scorecard and the cash forecast all need somebody accountable for them between L10s. That is what the finance seat is, and it is what we do.
- The call, twenty minutesYou describe the business and where the numbers are letting you down. We tell you honestly whether we can help, and what we would start with. No pitch deck.
- We look at the fileYou give us read access to the books as they are. We come back with what is wrong, what it will take to fix, and whether the answer is bookkeeping, controller work, or something else.
- A written scope and a priceWhat we do each month, what you get, the date it lands, and the fee. Agreed before anything starts, and it does not move without you agreeing it.
- Transition, then the first closeAccess, systems, and the opening balances. The first close lands on the date in the scope, and every one after it does too.
Averan is not a CPA firm and does not file taxes. Your CPA keeps that, and we keep the books they file from.