Copy the checklist below to standardise your month-end close, or run it as a repeatable workflow in Tidyflow so every client’s books close the same way each month.
Each check says what to look for, because “reconcile the bank” is easy to tick without catching the duplicate feed line or the payout booked gross. Skip the sections that don’t apply to a client.
The month-end close checklist
1. Before you start
- Collect the client’s documents. Bank, card and loan statements, payroll reports, merchant payout reports, and a list of unpaid bills.
- Check every bank feed is connected and current. A broken feed is the most common reason a close stalls halfway.
- Confirm the account list is complete. Ask whether the client opened a new bank account, card or loan this month.
- Clear last month’s open queries. Answers that arrive late usually change last month’s numbers, not this month’s.
- Confirm the prior period is still locked. Opening balances should agree to last month’s signed-off balance sheet.
2. Bank, cards and clearing accounts
- Reconcile each bank account to the statement closing balance. Use the bank statement, not the feed balance, since feeds can miss or duplicate lines.
- Reconcile every credit card to its statement. Include cards in the owner’s name that are used for business spend.
- Look for duplicate transactions. They usually appear after a feed reconnects or a statement is imported manually.
- Investigate unreconciled items older than 60 days. Stale uncleared checks and deposits often turn out to be duplicates or voids.
- Reconcile payment processor clearing accounts. Stripe, Square, PayPal and Shopify payouts should be recorded net, with fees expensed, and the balance should match funds in transit.
- Check Payments to deposit (Undeposited Funds) in QuickBooks. It should only hold payments not yet banked, not old receipts that were never matched.
- Confirm transfers between the client’s own accounts are coded as transfers. Transfers coded as income or expense distort the P&L.
- Count or confirm petty cash.
3. Sales and receivables
- Agree the aged receivables total to the AR account on the balance sheet. A difference usually means a journal posted straight to AR.
- Match unapplied payments and credit notes to invoices. Otherwise customers look overdue when they have paid.
- Confirm all sales for the month were invoiced. Compare to the client’s booking, POS or job system, and check recurring invoices ran.
- Review overdue invoices. Flag anything past terms for follow-up and record approved write-offs.
- Release deferred revenue. Recognise this month’s share of annual subscriptions, retainers and upfront payments.
4. Bills and expenses
- Agree the aged payables total to the AP account on the balance sheet.
- Check bills were entered once. A bill captured by Dext or Hubdoc and also coded by a bank rule is a common double count.
- Reconcile vendor statements for the largest suppliers. This catches missing bills and payments applied to the wrong bill.
- Accrue expenses incurred but not yet billed. Utilities, contractors and professional fees. Reverse last month’s accruals first.
- Amortise prepayments. Insurance, annual software and rent paid in advance.
- Send the client a list of missing receipts. Agree a due date so it does not roll into next month.
- Collect W-9s from new contractors (US). Doing this monthly avoids a January scramble for 1099s.
5. Payroll
- Agree the payroll journal to the payroll provider’s reports. Gross wages, employer taxes, deductions and net pay should all tie.
- Reconcile payroll liability accounts. Each balance should equal what is currently owed, with last period’s payments cleared.
- Check the wages clearing account is zero.
- Accrue wages for days worked but not yet paid, where the amount is material.
- Update leave or PTO accruals if the client tracks them on the balance sheet.
6. Sales tax, GST and VAT
- Agree the tax liability account to the tax report for the period. It should also reconcile to the last return filed and paid.
- Check tax codes on new customers, suppliers and accounts. Incorrect defaults on a new supplier repeat every month until caught.
- Confirm the last return was paid and the payment cleared the liability account.
7. Fixed assets, loans and equity
- Capitalise asset purchases above the client’s threshold. Equipment and vehicles are often coded to repairs or office expenses.
- Record asset disposals.
- Post depreciation and agree it to the fixed asset register.
- Agree each loan balance to the lender statement. Split repayments into principal and interest; vehicle and equipment finance is often missed.
- Code personal spending to drawings or the owner’s loan account. Owners paying personal costs on business cards is one of the most common month-end fixes.
- Agree intercompany balances on both sides. They should eliminate.
- Check Opening Balance Equity is zero in QuickBooks.
- Confirm retained earnings has not changed since the last year end. A change means something was posted to a closed year.
8. Inventory
- Agree inventory on the balance sheet to the stock count or inventory system.
- Post the cost of goods sold adjustment if inventory is not tracked perpetually.
9. Review
- Clear suspense, Ask My Accountant and uncategorised accounts. These should be zero before the close is done.
- Compare the P&L to the prior month and the same month last year. Explain anything that moved more than your materiality threshold.
- Scan the balance sheet for balances with the wrong sign. A negative bank account with no overdraft, negative payables or negative assets all point to coding errors.
- Check key ratios are in their normal range. Gross margin and wages as a percentage of revenue catch miscoding that totals hide.
- Have a second person review the close. Resolve every reviewer note before locking.
10. Lock and report
- Lock the period. Set the lock date in Xero, or turn on Close the books with a closing date and password in QuickBooks.
- Save reconciliation reports and support to the client’s file.
- Send the management report pack. Same pack, same format, same day each month.
- Log questions for the client and recurring issues for next month.
- Next month, check for changes made after the lock. Use the Exceptions to Closing Date report in QuickBooks, or History and notes in Xero.
Issues that hold up the close
Most late closes come down to the same few problems:
- Missing bank or card statements. Request them on the first business day of the month, not when you start the close.
- Broken bank feeds. Check feed status in the first week of the month.
- Unanswered client queries. Batch questions into one request with a due date, rather than chasing by email one at a time.
- A new account nobody told you about. Ask at the start of every close.
- Payouts and processor fees booked gross. Revenue looks right but the clearing account never balances.
- Edits to locked periods. Lock every period you sign off and use password protection where the software offers it.
Regional checks
- US. Reconcile sales tax by state, and confirm payroll tax deposits were made on schedule.
- Australia. From 1 July 2026, Payday Super means super is paid with each pay run, so check super payable every month. Confirm STP reporting is up to date and GST is reconciled before the BAS.
- New Zealand. Reconcile GST for the client’s filing period and confirm payday filing and KiwiSaver deductions are current.
- UK. Reconcile the VAT control account for the MTD return period and confirm PAYE submissions are up to date.
- Canada. Reconcile GST/HST, plus PST or QST where the client is registered, and confirm payroll source deductions were remitted.
How to use this checklist
Copy it into your firm’s process, or set it up once as a recurring job so it regenerates every month with each step pre-assigned. Pair it with client document requests so the information you need arrives before you start, not halfway through. For running it across your whole client list, see how accounting firms run the month-end close.
Run it as a repeatable workflow
In Tidyflow, this becomes a recurring job: each step is a subtask your team checks off, with due dates and assignments, and the documents you need from the client are collected through their portal with automatic reminders. You get a firm-wide view of exactly where every client’s close stands.