Guide
Month-End Close Checklist for Small Businesses
Bookkeeping records transactions. A month-end close checks that the month is complete and correct, then locks it so the numbers stop moving. Where a business records transactions but does not close the month, reports for the same period can say different things depending on when they are run, because late or corrected entries keep arriving after the fact.
This checklist is the close in the order it should be done. It is written for a business that already records its transactions, and wants monthly statements it can actually rely on.
Scope
Bookkeeping versus a monthly close
Day-to-day bookkeeping is recording: coding bank feed transactions, entering bills, raising invoices. A close is a review layer on top of that. It asks whether everything that happened in the month is in the books, whether it is in the right place, and whether each balance can be supported.
The close is also where the boundaries of the work sit. It produces reliable monthly statements. It is not tax preparation, not an audit or review, and not a substitute for a tax professional's judgement on filings. Where something in the close raises a tax or regulatory question, the right step is to flag it, not to resolve it inside the books.
If you would rather not run this yourself, monthly accounting and month-end close is the service that covers it.
Checklist
The close, step by step
01
Collect source documents
Bank, card and loan statements, payroll reports, merchant processor statements, and any bills or invoices not yet entered. Collect what is available, start reconciliations with it, and log the outstanding documents so the close is not finalized until they are in.
02
Reconcile bank and card accounts
Agree every bank and credit card account to its statement ending balance. Investigate differences rather than posting an adjustment to make them disappear.
03
Check receivables timing
Confirm invoices for the month are raised in the right period, payments are applied to the right invoices, and nothing already paid is still showing as open.
04
Check payables timing
Enter bills received for the month, apply payments correctly, and review bills dated in the month but received later so expenses land in the right period.
05
Agree payroll to reports
Tie gross wages, employer taxes, withholdings and payroll liabilities to the payroll provider's reports rather than to what the bank feed shows.
06
Split debt payments
Allocate loan and financing payments between principal and interest using the lender's statement or amortization schedule, and agree the loan balance.
07
Review accruals where relevant
Subject to your applicable accounting policy: on accrual-basis books, record expenses incurred but not yet billed and revenue earned but not yet invoiced where the amounts are significant and supportable, rather than posting an automatic blanket entry. Cash-basis books skip this step.
08
Clear or explain clearing accounts
Undeposited funds, uncategorized and suspense balances should be resolved to the correct accounts. Anything you cannot resolve goes on the exception log, not into a forced entry.
09
Review the balance sheet
Go line by line. Each balance should tie to a statement, schedule or report. Compare to last month and ask why anything moved unexpectedly.
10
Review the reports
Read the profit and loss against last month and the same month last year. Unusual swings often point to miscoding rather than a real change in the business.
11
Keep an exception log
List every open item: unexplained differences, missing documents, questions for the owner, and anything that needs a tax professional's review.
12
Owner sign-off and lock
The owner reviews the statements and the exception log, then the period is locked with a closing date so later edits need a deliberate decision.
Judgement
What a close should not do
A close should make problems visible, not make them disappear. Posting a plug to bring a reconciliation or clearing account to zero produces a clean-looking report that nobody can explain, and the problem resurfaces later at a worse time.
Likewise, a close should not delete transactions from prior periods or change months that are already locked without a documented reason. Corrections should preserve the audit history, use the method appropriate to the transaction and accounting system, and closed or filed periods should be reviewed before any change is made.
If the close turns up something that may affect a filed return or a regulatory filing, record it on the exception log for professional review. Deciding what to do about it is outside the scope of a bookkeeping close.
Finished
What a closed month looks like
- Every bank, card and loan account reconciles to its statement
- Payroll agrees to the provider's reports
- Receivables and payables reflect what is genuinely open
- Clearing accounts are resolved or listed as exceptions
- Each balance sheet line ties to a statement or schedule
- The exception log is written and reviewed by the owner
- The period is locked with a closing date
FAQ
Questions we get asked about this
Related
Where to go next
Monthly close
Monthly Accounting and Month-End Close
Outsourced monthly accounting and month-end close for U.S. small businesses: reconciled accounts, accruals, reviewed statements, and a fixed close date.
Bookkeeping
Bookkeeping Services for Small Businesses
Online bookkeeping services for U.S. small businesses. Accurate coding, monthly reconciliations, and books that stay current instead of falling behind.
Cleanup
Catch-Up Bookkeeping Services
Catch-up bookkeeping for small businesses that are months or years behind. We rebuild the record, reconcile every account, and get you current.
Also relevant: QuickBooks Online support.
Next step
Want a close that happens every month without you chasing it?
Tell us how the books are kept today. We will explain what a monthly close would look like for your business.