Month end close accounting
- What approval costs a month
- $4,300.80
- Hours on routine handling
- 120
- Hours on exceptions
- 14.4
Every figure on this page is computed from the inputs entered, by the method stated below it. Monthendly publishes no benchmark close time, no industry average DPO and no accounting standard: the tasks, the minutes, the rate and the exception rate are yours, and the defaults are a worked example to replace with your own figures.
Month end close accounting is the work between the cut-off and the moment somebody says the month is done: cutting off payables and receivables, posting accruals and prepayments, reconciling the bank and the control accounts, reviewing the result and signing it off. Most teams run it from a spreadsheet checklist that was inherited, edited under pressure and never quite reviewed, which is why the same three tasks slip every month and nobody can say how long the close really takes. This page is the shape of a close for a small team, the reason it takes longer than people think, and how to price yours before deciding whether to change anything.
Open the Accounts payable invoice approval process Free to use. No account, no card, no sign-up.
Cut off, and know what is sitting unapproved
The close begins with a cut-off, and the pile of unapproved invoices at that moment is what turns into accruals. Teams that clear payables before the cut-off close faster than teams that are equally organized afterwards, which is why this hub treats payables as part of the close rather than a neighbouring job.
Post, reconcile and tie
Accruals, prepayments, the bank, and the control accounts. This is the part everyone thinks of as the close and it is rarely the part that overruns, because it is well understood and usually owned by one person.
Review and sign off, with the evidence attached
The month is closed when someone has looked at the result and said so. Attaching the reconciliations and the checklist to that moment is what makes next quarter's audit and next month's question answerable from a record.
Month end close accounting: common questions
How long should a month end close take? There is no number we would honestly give you, because it depends on your transaction volume, your team and your systems. What we can do is price yours: the free checklist worksheet turns your own tasks, minutes and people into working days. On its worked example, 33 hours across two people at six hours a day is 2.75 days.
Why does our close keep slipping? Most often because the checklist does not include everything that actually happens, so the work is real and the plan is optimistic. Counting the tasks honestly, including the chasing, is usually more revealing than any process change.
Would another person make it faster? Arithmetically yes, and the worksheet shows by how much: the same 33-hour close across three people at six hours a day is 1.83 days rather than 2.75. Whether the tasks actually divide that way is your judgement, not the sheet's.
Will it do what you need for Month end close accounting?
Tell us how your close runs and we will tell you straight whether Monthendly Pro fits it today, whether it is coming, or whether you need a different product instead. A person reads these and replies.