Month-End Close Checklist (Free Template)

Contents

1. The five stages
2. Where the hours usually go
3. Getting the hours back

1. The five stages

Adjust the days to your own timetable. Next to each task, write down how long it took this month.

Before month-end: get ahead

Send a cut-off reminder to claimants and budget holders
Chase outstanding expense claims and missing receipts (time sink)
Chase approvals sitting with managers (time sink)
Review open purchase orders and goods received but not invoiced

Days 1 to 2: capture and match

Check every supplier invoice for the month is in and coded
Reconcile supplier statements and chase missing invoices (time sink)
Match invoices to purchase orders and receipts, and resolve mismatches (time sink)
Post approved expense claims
Reconcile company card statements to receipts (time sink)
Accrue for goods and services received but not yet invoiced

Days 2 to 3: reconcile

Bank reconciliations
Intercompany reconciliations
Balance sheet reconciliations
Prepayments and deferred income

Days 3 to 4: review

Budget against actual variance review with budget holders (time sink)
Review manual journals
Check VAT coding on expenses and invoices

Days 4 to 5: report and close

Prepare management accounts
Lock the period
Note the three tasks that took longest this month

2. Where the hours usually go

Chasing people: missing receipts, unsubmitted claims and approvals sitting in someone’s inbox.
Matching documents: invoices that don’t match the PO or the delivery, and the emails it takes to fix them.
Explaining surprises: spend that budget holders didn’t know about until the numbers came out.

3. Getting the hours back

Look at the three tasks that took longest. If they’re the flagged ones, the fix usually isn’t working harder at month-end. It’s catching the problem when the transaction happens.

If the hours go on…	What changes it
Chasing receipts and claims	Webexpenses Expense Management*: policy applied as the claim is entered, and people paid without the chase
Matching invoices and statements	Webexpenses Accounts Payable: invoices read as they arrive and matched to order and receipt, with supplier statements reconciled
Card reconciliation	Webexpenses Expense Management*: card transactions matched to receipts as you go, not at month-end
Late approvals	Webexpenses Purchase Orders: spend approved before the money is committed
Budget surprises	Webexpenses Budgets: the live position, not last month’s

*Expense Management is available today as a standalone Webexpenses product. Full integration with the FinOps platform is coming soon.

Financial Controller? Read Month-end close: where your team’s hours go for the five numbers to track.

Most month-end hours start earlier in the month. Webexpenses catches problems when the transaction happens, not on day 31.