Monthly Bookkeeping and Accounting Close

Check the client portal (SmartVault, ShareFile, Liscio, or TaxDome) for every operating account, savings account, and credit card. Missing a single statement at this stage cascades into a stalled reconciliation later in the week. Chase any missing statement before bank-rec day rather than during it.

Verify the last pay date in Gusto, ADP, or QuickBooks Payroll has synced to the GL with both gross wages and the corresponding tax-deposit liability. If the pay period straddles month-end, note the unpaid days for the payroll accrual in the AJE phase.

Pull the Bill.com or Ramp queue and verify every dated bill in the period is entered to A/P. Receipt-capture tools (Hubdoc, Dext) often have unprocessed items that need to be matched or coded before close.

Tie billable revenue from the client's project tool, time tracker, or sales system to invoices in QBO/Xero. Uninvoiced revenue that should be recognized in the period gets handled as an accrual later, but missing invoices for completed work need to be created now.

Tie ending bank balance to book balance for each account, accounting for outstanding checks and deposits in transit. Save the QBO/Xero reconciliation report PDF to the workpaper folder — that is the audit trail.

Match every charge to a coded transaction or receipt. Bank-feed rules tend to drift as new vendors appear; auto-categorized lines that landed in Ask My Accountant get cleared here, not at year-end.

Pull the uncleared transactions report. Anything older than 90 days is suspicious — often a duplicated entry, a voided check that was never voided in the system, or a deposit booked twice. Resolve before signing the rec.

List each unreconciled item with date, amount, and suspected cause. Per firm policy, any unreconciled item over $1,000 gets routed to the client for review before the period is locked.

Send the controller or owner the workpaper extract listing each item over $1,000, along with the suspected cause and the question being asked. Block the close from progressing until you have written confirmation back.

The customer balance summary should equal the A/R control account on the trial balance. A variance usually means a journal entry hit A/R without a customer assigned, which breaks the sub-ledger. Investigate any 90+ buckets with the client for collectability.

Vendor balance summary should equal the A/P control account. Common breaks: a bill-payment recorded as a check directly to expense, bypassing the bill; or a credit memo applied incorrectly.

Update the depreciation schedule for any new acquisitions or disposals. Post the monthly depreciation entry per the schedule. Ending accumulated depreciation should tie to the balance sheet.

For each note payable, confirm principal balance equals the lender's month-end statement. Split each loan payment between principal and interest using the amortization schedule — auto-categorization rules typically post the whole payment to interest.

If period-end falls mid-pay-period, accrue gross wages for the unpaid days plus the employer FICA portion. Reverse on the first of the following month so the next payroll posting doesn't double-book.

Annual insurance premiums, software subscriptions, and prepaid rent get spread across the periods they cover. Pull the prepaid schedule and post the monthly portion.

For SaaS or retainer clients, customer deposits sit on the balance sheet as deferred revenue and release as service is delivered. Tie to the deferred-revenue waterfall before posting.

Anything sitting in Ask My Accountant or a generic suspense account gets reclassed to the correct GL account with a memo. Every AJE needs a memo and supporting workpaper — partners block close until populated.

Compare the trial balance against the prior month and the same month last year. Flag any account with a movement greater than 20% or $5,000 for explanation. Capture the explanations in the variance notes — these become the basis of the management commentary.

Run the income statement with current month, YTD, and prior-year comparison columns. If the client uses class or location tracking, also produce the segmented P&L by class.

Produce the balance sheet and indirect-method cash flow statement. Confirm cash on the cash flow ties to the bank-rec ending balance — a mismatch usually means a balance-sheet account moved without a P&L counterpart.

Three to five short paragraphs covering: top P&L variances with cause, A/R concerns and aging trend, current cash position and runway, and any KPI movement the client tracks (gross margin, DSO, headcount cost ratio).

Set the close date in QBO (Account and Settings → Advanced → Accounting) or Xero (Advanced → Financial settings) with a password. This prevents the client or staff from posting back-dated transactions that would invalidate the locked figures.

Upload the package (P&L, balance sheet, cash flow, commentary) to the client portal and notify the client. Capture the sent date for SLA tracking — most engagement letters specify delivery by the 10th business day after period-end.

Get a 30-minute review call on the calendar within a week of delivery. Walking the client through the variance notes and A/R aging in person catches questions that would otherwise become a long email thread.