An accounts payable checklist is most useful when it follows the monthly cycle rather than listing every good practice at once, because the work genuinely has a rhythm: things that should happen weekly, things that must happen at the cut-off, and things that only make sense afterwards. Arranged that way it becomes a routine rather than an audit, and routines survive busy months. This page is that checklist for a small team, with the reason attached to each item so it can be dropped deliberately, and it is short enough to be completed rather than started.
Weekly: keep the pile small
Capture and code everything that arrived. Clear matching exceptions with an owner named for each. Chase approvals that are more than a few days old. The purpose of all three is to keep the unapproved pile small as the cut-off approaches, because that pile is what turns into accruals.
At the cut-off: freeze and record
Save the aging as it stands. Record what is unapproved. Identify goods received not invoiced. Post accruals for both. These four are the ones an auditor will ask for and the ones that are painful to reconstruct. On the worked example on this site, $48,000 current, $21,000 at thirty days, $9,500 at sixty and $4,200 beyond is $82,700 owed, 42% of it overdue, with days payable outstanding of 30.26.
After: reconcile and review
Reconcile the ledger to the control account with each difference explained. Review new suppliers and any bank detail changes from the month. The first proves the balance; the second is the highest-yield fraud check available and takes minutes.
Questions people ask about accounts payable checklist
Is this different from the close checklist?
It is the payables portion of it. This hub treats payables as part of the close because clearing it is the largest single piece of work in most months.
What if we cannot do the weekly items?
Then the cut-off items become much larger, which is the trade rather than a saving. The weekly work is the same work done earlier and in smaller pieces.
Should this be signed off?
By whoever owns payables, with the supplier review evidenced separately since it is a control rather than a task.