Tips for Streamlining Financial Close

How can finance & accounting better partner on the monthly close?  Last week, Daniel deCoen and I partnered with accounting and finance leaders from the Operators Guild to crack the code. Here’s the top 5 strategies we discussed: 𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 “𝗪𝗵𝘆” Instead of accounting just fulfilling requests from the finance team, empower them to understand the underlying motivation behind each request. Not only can this improve team dynamics, but it can often result in more efficient solutions. 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗖𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 Distribute your month-end checklist deliver dates as early as possible, including dates for preliminary numbers, soft close, and final reports. This gives stakeholders time to prepare accordingly - a simple yet powerful way to prevent last-minute fire drills. 𝗙𝗹𝗮𝘀𝗵 𝗘𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆, 𝗙𝗹𝗮𝘀𝗵 𝗢𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗻 Work with your finance partners to identify their must-have metrics and prioritize your close checklist accordingly. While perfect numbers might not be ready on Day 1, delivering preliminary flash reports on key metrics (like revenue) can help finance teams start their analysis sooner. 𝗞𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗮 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝘀 A streamlined chart of accounts with thoughtful department structures often beats complex segmentation. Sometimes the simplest solution is the most effective! 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 It's important to set materiality thresholds for each type of report (flash vs. final) so you can move quickly with an acceptable degree of accuracy. We heard this is one of the best ways to accelerate your monthly close, especially when you're under a tight window with an upcoming board meeting. Anything we missed? Let me know in the comments! 👇

After 10+ years in accounting, I’ve seen every month-end close mistake. Here are 9 common ones (and quick tips to fix them): Mistake #1: Team Members Don’t Know What Needs to Be Done The Fix: Create a detailed checklist with tasks, responsibilities, and deadlines. Mistake #2: Managers Don’t Know the Status of Various Tasks The Fix: Use PM or close management software for real-time updates. Mistake #3: Supporting Documents Are Scattered The Fix: Centralize everything in one digital repository with consistent naming. Mistake #4: Not Doing a Hard Close The Fix: Institute a hard close to lock accounts and prevent unauthorized adjustments. Mistake #5: Waiting Until the End of the Month to Start The Fix: Work towards a perpetual close by handling tasks throughout the month. Mistake #6: Taking Too Long to Close the Books The Fix: Set clear timelines, identify bottlenecks, and streamline procedures. Mistake #7: Neglecting Balance Sheet Account Reconciliation The Fix: Prioritize reconciling all balance sheet accounts, not just cash. Mistake #8: Not Leveraging Automation The Fix: Automate repetitive tasks like data entry and reconciliations. Mistake #9: Not Documenting Institutional Knowledge The Fix: Create a knowledge repository where team members document procedures. I know how stressful month-end can be, see a lot of teams still struggling. Avoiding these mistakes won’t just speed things up—it’ll make life a lot easier for you and your team.

I track one metric religiously. Not revenue. Not burn. Not runway. Every week, I log it: Monthly close. Reconciliations. Paying invoices. Expense reports. Last month: 47% of my time. That’s time not spent on pricing strategy, cohort economics, or helping the team make better decisions. We all know that the value isn’t in maintaining the books, but in driving insights. But most finance teams get it backwards: 80% maintenance. 20% strategy. Then they wonder why they’re not in board meetings. My rule: keep repetitive work under 40%. Here’s my approach: → Weeks 1–4: Learn + set goals + build roadmap → Weeks 5-8: Implement + track processes → Weeks 9–12: Automate + templatize → Weeks 13–16: Train or delegate → Weeks 17+: Review and refine Real examples: • Close: 20 days → dynamic checklist, automated schedules → 7 days • Rev rec: 12 hours → rebuilt workflow, standardized categories → 90 minutes (80% fewer errors) • Reforecasting: 6 hours → simplified model, power queries → 30 minutes Every hour trapped in Excel reconciliations is an hour not identifying why your best customers churn. Every day in the close is a day not analyzing unit economics. The uncomfortable truth: If you're spending most of your time on routine tasks, you're not a finance leader. You're an expensive bookkeeper. Your CEO knows it. Track this metric. When it creeps above 40%, improve your systems. Your value isn't in perfect books. It's in perfect insights. The books just need to be trusted. Not worshipped.

Want a Faster Month-End Close? Top 10 strategies to supercharge it 👇 These strategies slashed our close time from 14 to 5 business days! 1️⃣ Standardize Processes:  Streamline activities to reduce confusion and increase efficiency. Make sure everyone knows their role and deadlines. 2️⃣ Automate What You Can:  Leverage technology to automate repetitive tasks. This not only saves time but also reduces the risk of human errors. 3️⃣ Reconcile Continuously:  Don't wait until month-end. Regular reconciliations can prevent nasty surprises and make the month-end process smoother. 4️⃣ Centralize Data:  Use a single, centralized system to collect and manage data. This promotes data consistency and accessibility. 5️⃣ Prioritize Tasks:  Not all tasks are created equal. Prioritize critical tasks to ensure they're completed first. 6️⃣ Distribute the Workload:  Ensure the workload is evenly distributed among the team. Overburdened employees are more likely to make mistakes. 7️⃣ Communicate & Plan Effectively:  Use project planning software to split sequential close by department, i.e. A/R, A/P, Payroll, etc. Meet with your team before each moth-end close and get their buy-in and commitment to the project timeline.  Clear communication is key. Keep everyone informed about the status and any issues that arise. 8️⃣ Prepare for Exceptions:  Be proactive and plan for potential roadblocks. This allows you to address issues promptly without derailing the entire process. 9️⃣ Review and Improve:  Always review the month-end close process for areas of improvement. Use these learnings to enhance future closes. 🔟 Empower Your Team: Equip your team with the skills and tools they need to perform their tasks efficiently. —-------------------- Implementing these strategies will not only speed up your month-end close, but also: 1. Improve accuracy 2. Free up resources 3. Give you more time for strategic analysis Ready to conquer your next month-end close? Time to put these strategies into action! 💪📊 Did I miss anything that’s helped you close faster? Share your best practices in the comments 👇

Want a 4-day month end close? Don’t start on day 1. Start 10 days earlier. You don’t have to wait for day 0 or day 1 to begin close. A lot can be front-loaded. -Post journal entries that don’t change. -Build templates for reclasses. -Preload recurring adjustments. At one of my previous companies, we had four different systems. None of them talked to each other. So FP&A spent 2 full days just reconciling. It wasn't sustainable. -We built a business case. -Got IT and Controllership involved. -Spent 8 months getting the systems to sync. After that? Close dropped from 8 days to 4. And the team got their sanity back. Sometimes you just need to stop accepting "we have always done it that way" and start looking at it through a fresh lens. #PrivateEquity #FinanceTransformation #FPandA

Bad Accounting → Bad Planning Good Accounting → Good Planning Companies fail here. Finance hides behind: - Messy data - Late reports - Complex spreadsheets This destroys planning. Here are 5 ways to fix this: 1. Fix your chart of accounts: Map each account to one KPI. Delete unused accounts. No generic buckets. 2. Close faster: Start closing on day 25. Book 80% of high-confidence transactions (recurring revenue, fixed expenses). 3. Connect accounting to FP&A daily: Give FP&A live system access. Build real-time dashboards. 4. Clean your data sources: One source per data point. Zero duplicates. Full audit trail. 5. Standardize booking rules: Set strict rules. Train weekly. Audit monthly. Good planning needs clean numbers. Clean numbers need good accounting. Good accounting needs clear rules. Your strategy depends on it.

CFOs should simplify & automate accounting. Accounting is full of tasks that don't have a high perceived value. If you don't streamline, you won't have time to produce high value items. At it's core, accounting focuses on: -Coding transactions -Managing AR/AP -Validating balances -Adjusting to accrual -Compliance Here are some ideas to simplify: -Streamline the COA -Use clearing accounts (wisely) -Triangulate supportable data (CRM, MRP, etc) -Manage AR/AP with the cash forecast -Monthly close checklist -Compare actuals to forecast -Outsource low value items -Elevate laborers -Use expense management tech Using these techniques, I've been able to: -Free up labor -Have better visibility -Set the stage for FP&A -Produce valuable reporting -Cut accounting time in half (or more) -Safeguard with less cumbersome controls And more importantly: -Less work -Less headache -More value to you -More value to company All without a new ERP.

Last quarter, I witnessed our accounting team implode during month-end close: - Reports to the CFO delivered days late. - Three critical journal entries completely missed - Bank reconciliations with $14,000 in unexplained variances. The consequences were severe: weekend overtime, auditor findings, and eroding trust from leadership. This wasn't just an organizational issue. It threatened our financial integrity and the team's professional reputation. After analyzing what went wrong, I implemented a comprehensive month-end control system: 1. Documentation First:  → Created detailed process maps for each closing task. 2. Tiered Checklist System:  → Developed role-specific checklists with dependencies clearly marked. 3. Verification Points:  → Established key checkpoints requiring senior approval. 4. Digital Integration:  → Built automated notifications for missed deadlines or variances 5. Review Cadence:  → Implemented daily close meetings with visual tracking The result? Within one quarter: - Zero missed journal entries - All reports delivered on schedule - Unexplained variances reduced to under $500 Even our most experienced team members now rely on this framework. They've realized that "doing it from memory" isn't professional confidence. it's unnecessary risk. Is your accounting team still closing books without a comprehensive system? #monthend  #checklist  #finance  

Inefficient finance departments cost COOs more than they think. (But fixing it takes less time than they’d expect.) Most COOs we work with swear their finance team is “fine.” Then we jump on a deep-dive call and find: → Month-end closes take 2 weeks (not 3 days) → CPA bills 30% higher (thanks to messy books) → The team’s always firefighting (not strategizing) Here’s the hard truth: Your finance team isn’t slow. It lacks structure and clear processes. After auditing 150+ small business finance teams at Books at Ease, one pattern keeps emerging: Talent can’t compensate for missing processes. The Fix? Structure Over Talent. Every. Single. Time. Here’s what you need to do to fix this: Segregate duties → Stop letting your accountant play admin. Lock in rhythms → Weekly syncs prevent month-end chaos. Document workflows → If it’s not written, it’s not real. Real example: One client shortened their month-end close from 14 days to 4 by clarifying roles and adding a simple checklist. Great teams aren’t born. They're built P.S. Share this if you think it will be helpful to someone in your network. ♻️ Structure beats talent? Or do you think I'm missing something? Let's debate in the comments 👇 — Ana

How to perform a Month End Close 👇 Month End Close is one of the most common tasks for an accounting function... and it’s also one of the most important tasks. Below you’ll find my MEGA GUIDE (80+ pages) on everything I know about how to perform a month end close… something I’ve developed after closing the books for 100s of companies. But first… ➡ What Exactly is a Month End Close? While many may define this differently… to me, a month end close is the PREPARATION… RECONCILIATION… & SIGN OFF on a company’s financial statements ➡ What are the Steps in a Month End Close? 1️⃣ CLASSIFY ALL TRANSACTIONS TO GL ACCOUNTS All of your bank & credit card transactions should automatically flow through to your accounting software… allowing you to easily start classifying to your General Ledger accounts. When classifying accounts, keep these tips in mind: ⏩ Include a vendor / customer name on all transactions to allow for further reporting & analysis ⏩ Bulk classify transactions for the same vendor that belong to the same category to save time and stay efficient ⏩ Attach receipts & documentation on any large transactions (typically above $1k) ⏩ Put all transactions you are unsure of to uncategorized expense / income, and revisit at the end. Don't let it hold up your month end close! 2️⃣ RECONCILE ALL BANK & CREDIT CARD ACCOUNTS Now it’s time to reconcile your transactions. A reconciliation is simply taking the balance from one location (IE, your accounting software)… and TYING it to another location (IE, a bank statement). Bank reconciliations are IMO the most important piece of a month end close… without it, you don't have any credibility on the numbers being presented! 3️⃣ BOOK ADJUSTING JOURNAL ENTRIES Here comes the real work in a month end close - adjusting journal entries. Common ones are Prepaid expenses… Deferred Revenue… Depreciation.... the list is endless. The key here is to have rock solid workpapers, typically in excel, helping you both validate & calculate the adjustments / balances 4️⃣ CONFIRM ACCURACY & FINAL REVIEW Here, it's time to zoom out and review all of your work. I like to first start by scanning the month over month financials 🤔 Do any accounts show large swings in balances? 🤔 Are there any new accounts that can be merged with existing accounts? 🤔 Do any accounts have missing values? From there, I'll do a final review on all transactions posted to ensure everything is coded correctly Once you've completed the steps above - you're all set! And you can then move onto distributing the financials, performing analysis, etc. Those are my tips for closing out the month. What has been your experience? Join us in the comments below and let us know your thoughts : 👇 PS: This post is an excerpt from my newsletter, where I send out a daily Finance & Accounting tip right to your inbox. Join 30k+ Finance & Accounting professionals by subscribing via the link at the top of my profile ↗️