Month-end close checklist for bookkeeping and CAS teams

A month-end close checklist is useful only if it produces four counts: posted, waiting on client, waiting on firm, blocked. Bookkeepers already feel the missing receipts. This page is the list you run, not the pep talk.

The narrative version is month-end close for accounting firms. Print this one.

1. Feeds and capture

• Every connected account pulled through period end, or typed/CSV through period end.
• No silent gap of days. A broken feed is “blocked,” not ignored.

2. Leftovers

• Zero unlabeled transactions, or every unlabeled one sits in waiting on client or waiting on firm.
• Each leftover has a merchant, amount, date, and a one-line question.
• Send the client five leftovers, not forty. See exception-inbox bookkeeping.

3. Receipts and support

• Matched, requested, or waived in writing for de minimis amounts.
• Requests live on the transaction, not in a lost email thread.

4. Balance sheet that should reconcile

• Cash and cards: reconciled or flagged.
• Clearing and “ask my accountant” accounts: empty or explained.
• Payroll and tax holdings: reason if they moved.

5. Lock and reports

1. Period lock, or a named reason it stays open.
2. P&L, balance sheet, and cash from the posted ledger, not a rebuilt spreadsheet.
3. Send the package. If you sell CAS, this is the core close in how to package Client Accounting Services.

Run the list on your own activity, or read how it works if you want the four-move version first.