The Month-End Close Checklist
A practical guide covering data collection, account reconciliation, journal adjustments, financial review, and period close.
- Standardise your close process across teams, systems, and reporting periods.
- Reduce errors and accelerate the close.
- Establish a foundation before investing in automation or outsourced support.
Free, and it reaches your inbox in a couple of minutes.
Get the free checklist
Tell us where to send it and it will be in your inbox shortly.
Who Is This Checklist For?
Finance leaders seeking greater visibility into close performance, bottlenecks, and improvement opportunities.
Controllers and accounting teams managing recurring close activities across multiple stakeholders.
Growing finance teams looking to establish a consistent and scalable close process.
Teams with manual workflows looking to identify inefficiencies, control gaps, and opportunities for automation.
How Can the Checklist Help?
Most mid-market finance teams still do not have a documented, standardised close process, which means close quality depends on who is available for that month and what they remember to do.
A well-structured close process provides the foundation for accurate reporting and continuous improvement. This checklist helps your team establish that foundation by providing a clear view of what needs to be completed, when, and by whom.
Inside the checklist
Month-end close
- Data collection
- Account reconciliation
- Journal adjustments
- Financial review
- Period close
Five stages, each with its own owner, timing and sign-off.
How to Use the Checklist
Review your current process
Assess each stage of your month-end close.
Assign ownership and timelines
Define responsibilities and completion deadlines.
Track issues
Identify recurring delays, manual tasks, and data gaps.
Prioritise improvement
Determine which activities to streamline, redesign, or automate.
Review and refine
Update the checklist as your processes evolve.
Start your next close with a plan
Every stage, every owner, every deadline — in one document your team can work from this month.
More Free Tools
Every TRG assessment and calculator is free, takes minutes, and gives you something you can act on.
Budgeting Processing Assessment
Assess how efficient, accurate, and collaborative your budgeting process really is, and get a clear roadmap for improvement.
START CHECKMonth-End Close Processing Assessment
See how efficient and controlled your month-end close is, and identify the biggest levers to shorten it.
START CHECKCFO Self-Assessment
50 questions across six dimensions reveal whether your finance function is reactive, fragile, or a true strategic engine.
OPEN ASSESSMENTInvoice Processing ROI Calculator
Calculate how much your business can save when automating invoice processing across AP, approvals, and payments.
OPEN CALCULATOR