For accounting & bookkeeping firms
Month-End Close Checklist
The month-end close is where a bookkeeping firm earns its retainer — and where a missed reconciliation or a forgotten accrual quietly becomes next quarter's problem. This free Month-End Close Checklist gives you the full, run-it-today workflow firms use to close a client's books cleanly and on schedule: from locking the prior period and reconciling every bank and card account, through A/R and A/P, payroll and tax liabilities, adjusting entries, and a balance-sheet-first review before anything leaves the office. It's built for owners and staff at small accounting and bookkeeping shops who close multiple clients a month and need every set of books to come out the same way, no matter who does the work. Copy it, adapt the bracketed thresholds to your firm's standards, and use it as the repeatable backbone of your close — so nothing gets skipped and every client package is defensible.
1. Pre-Close Setup (before you touch the numbers)
- Confirm the close period and lock the prior period so no one can back-date entries into it
- Verify all client documents for the month are in: bank and credit card statements, loan statements, merchant/processor reports
- Confirm every bank and card feed has imported through the last calendar day of the month
- Check that opening balances match last month's signed-off closing balances
- Note any known one-offs for the month (new loan, asset purchase, large owner draw, customer refund)
2. Bank & Credit Card Reconciliation
- Reconcile every checking, savings, and credit card account to the statement ending balance
- Investigate or clear any transaction sitting uncleared more than 60 days
- Match processor deposits (Stripe, Square, PayPal) to the bank and book the processing fees separately
- Confirm each reconciliation difference is $0.00 before moving on
- Attach the statement PDF to each reconciliation so the audit trail lives with the books
3. Accounts Receivable
- Run the A/R aging and confirm the total ties to the balance sheet A/R balance
- Apply unapplied customer payments and credits to open invoices
- Flag invoices past due 30/60/90 days for the client to chase
- Write off or reserve confirmed uncollectible balances (with documented client approval)
- Confirm undeposited funds is zero or matches genuine deposits in transit
4. Accounts Payable
- Run the A/P aging and confirm it ties to the balance sheet A/P balance
- Enter all vendor bills dated in the period, including any that arrived in early [next month]
- Apply vendor credits and scan for duplicate bills before finalizing
- Reconcile key vendor statements to the open balances you're carrying
5. Payroll, Taxes & Liabilities
- Reconcile the payroll/wages clearing account to the payroll provider reports for the period
- Confirm payroll tax liabilities booked match the amounts actually withdrawn
- Reconcile sales tax payable to what was collected and filed
- Split loan and line-of-credit payments into principal vs. interest against the lender statement
- Reconcile every remaining liability account to zero or a known, supportable balance
6. Adjusting & Recurring Journal Entries
- Book depreciation and amortization for the month
- Amortize prepaid expenses (insurance, annual subscriptions, retainers) for the period
- Accrue expenses incurred but not yet billed (accrued wages, utilities, interest)
- Record deferred revenue movement / revenue recognition for the period
- Clear out 'Ask My Accountant' and uncategorized activity by reclassing to the right account
7. Balance Sheet Review (the truth test)
- Review every balance sheet account and confirm each balance is supported and explainable
- Confirm all clearing, suspense, and uncategorized accounts are zero
- Verify Retained Earnings and Owner's Equity roll forward correctly from last period
- Tie inventory to the count or subledger, if the client carries any
- Confirm no negative balances are hiding in accounts that shouldn't have them
8. P&L Review & Client Reporting
- Compare the P&L to prior month and prior year; investigate any line moving more than [X]%
- Sanity-check gross margin and major expense categories against what's normal for the client
- Assemble the month-end package: P&L, Balance Sheet, A/R and A/P aging, and a cash summary
- Write 2–3 plain-English notes on what changed and any action items for the owner
- Lock the period, mark the client's close complete, and deliver the package by [close deadline]
This is a customizable internal-workflow template, not accounting, tax, or legal advice, and it does not replace professional judgment or your firm's own standards — adapt the steps and thresholds to each engagement and have a qualified reviewer sign off before financials are finalized.
Put it to work.
Copy this checklist into your close workflow tool and duplicate it per client, then set your target close deadline for the month.
Work it top to bottom — each section feeds the next, so never review the P&L before the balance sheet ties and reconciliations clear.
Fill the bracketed thresholds and dates with your firm's standards, then have a second set of eyes sign off before the package goes to the client.
Questions, answered.
How many days should a month-end close take?
Most small firms aim to close a client's books within 5–10 business days of month-end. The exact target depends on how fast statements arrive and how clean the feeds are — set a firm-wide deadline (this checklist ends on it) and measure against it every month so slippage is visible.
What's the difference between a soft close and a hard close?
A soft close is a quick pass to get usable numbers out fast (reconcile, categorize, rough review) with adjusting entries still to come. A hard close is the full workflow above — every account reconciled, all accruals booked, the period locked. Use a soft close for interim reporting and a hard close before financials are final.
Does this work for cash-basis clients?
Yes. Cash-basis clients still need bank and card reconciliations, a clean balance sheet, liability reviews, and reporting. You'll simply skip or shrink the accrual-specific steps (accrued expenses, deferred revenue, A/R and A/P timing) since those are accrual concepts.
Can I use one checklist across all my clients?
Use it as the master template and duplicate it per client per month. The steps are the same; the bracketed thresholds, deadlines, and a few client-specific items (inventory, sales tax states, recurring entries) get set once per client and carried forward.
What order should I close in?
Reconcile first, adjust second, review last. Bank and card reconciliations and subledger tie-outs come before adjusting entries, and the balance-sheet review comes before you ever look at the P&L — an unreconciled balance sheet makes the income statement meaningless.
Stop re-typing it every time.
The Practice OS auto-fills this checklist per client each month, pulling reconciliation status, aging totals, and open items straight from the ledger so you start close with the boxes it can already check.
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