Month-end close checklist
The close as a dependency chain rather than a to-do list: fifteen steps in the order that avoids doing the reconciliations twice.
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What is in it
- Steps in dependency order, with the expected result of each
- Owner and sign-off columns
- Cash reconciled before accruals, because an accrual is a claim about what is missing
A note on using it
This is a starting point, not a standard. Every business has something in it that does not fit a generic template, and the version worth keeping is the one you have edited. If a line does not answer a question you actually ask, delete it.