At fast-paced organizations, accountants, controllers, and VPs of finance are under pressure to do more with less during the month-end close process.
With limited time and bandwidth, automation in the month-end close process is a matter of when not if. That means your team needs to get ahead of:
- Eliminating repetitive, manual tasks
- Creating more reliable financial reporting
- Moving off spreadsheets and manual effort as fast as possible to focus on higher-value activities
To meet this need, our team at Ledge collaborated with Ledge advisory board member Sivan Peri, currently VP Finance at Guidde, to build a month-end close checklist and actionable framework to manage specific tasks, deadlines and responsibilities.
Peri, who is known for her expertise scaling high-performance finance teams, has co-developed this resource with our team, with a goal to help high-performing finance teams start driving improvements immediately, while helping organizations expedite their automation readiness for more efficient month-end closes overall.
You can access Ledge's month-end close checklist as a Google Spreadsheet here. Remember to make a copy of the Google Spreadsheet, so you can edit it with your own company data.
How to navigate Ledge’s month-end close checklist
Ledge’s checklist is designed to start incorporating into your month-end close process as soon as next month. Here’s how to use this checklist effectively, as you advance your finance team’s broader collaboration, automation, and strategic planning objectives.
1. Break down complex processes into individual tasks
Each task in the spreadsheet represents a distinct component of the month-end close process, making it easier to evaluate which steps are manual, repetitive, or prone to error. Make sure that these tasks line up with the precise steps of your finance team’s month-end close process.
2. Clarify dependencies
The checklist outlines task dependencies, such as completing accounts payable processing before recording accrued expenses. This organization ensures that teams—and eventually, automation technology—are configurable to follow the correct sequence of operations in order to eliminate bottlenecks.
As you set up your spreadsheet, ensure that the dependencies are correct and clear for your finance organization.
3. Start with the final reporting deadline and work backwards
This reverse engineering ensures that every milestone is met on time, minimizing bottlenecks and last-minute rushes. For example, if the close must be finalized by the 15th of the month, tasks like flux analysis should be scheduled for the 13th, with dependent tasks, such as accruals and reconciliations, completed earlier in sequence.
Before implementing Ledge’s month-end close checklist, take a few minutes to make sure that the established deadlines make sense for your finance team’s workflows.
Conclusion
Remember: Executives, investors, and boards are counting on accurate data. CFOs need to trust their team’s work in order to communicate effectively with the rest of the C-suite and other stakeholders.
By implementing this checklist and advancing automation-readiness, your finance team can reduce errors, mitigate risks, and build the trust required to support strategic decision-making and collaboration at the highest levels.
Added bonus: Stop working overtime to tread water, and actually start getting ahead.
You can access Ledge's month-end close checklist as a Google Spreadsheet here. Remember to make a copy of the Google Spreadsheet, so you can edit it with your own company data.
