The timeline
Day 1-2: bank feeds, credit cards, and payment processors fully synced and reconciled. AR activity from the prior month finalized. AP cutoff complete - bills received through month-end entered but not yet paid.
Day 3-4: accruals and adjustments posted. Prepaid expenses amortized. Deferred revenue recognized for the month. Fixed asset depreciation booked. Payroll journal entries confirmed. Any unusual transactions discussed and resolved.
Day 5-7: trial balance reviewed for reasonableness. P&L and balance sheet generated. Variance analysis prepared comparing to budget and prior period. Financial statements finalized. Sent to leadership with commentary.
What "done" means
Every account reconciled to source. Bank accounts reconcile to statements. AR reconciles to aged detail. AP reconciles to aged detail. Deferred revenue reconciles to active contracts. This is not a nice-to-have - it is the definition of closed.
Every variance explained. Line items that moved more than a set threshold have written commentary. "Software expenses up $12K due to annual SaaS renewal" is useful. Unexplained variances mean the close is not actually done; it is just filed.
No corrections in the following period. Once a period is closed, it stays closed. Any errors found after close get corrected in the current period with a memo explaining the correction. If corrections routinely get backdated to prior periods, the close process is not working.
The review layer
A controller or senior accountant reviews the close output before it goes to leadership. They check: does the trial balance balance, do the reconciliations tie, are the accruals reasonable, do the variances make sense. This review catches 80% of the errors that would otherwise reach the CEO.
The reviewer should be someone other than the person producing the close. If the same person posts, reconciles, and reviews their own work, the review is not actually catching anything. Separation of duties here is a basic control that many companies skip.
The review should be documented. Initials on the reconciliation. Sign-off on the variance report. This is not bureaucracy - it is evidence that the review actually happened. If the close gets questioned later, the documentation is what demonstrates the process worked.
The output package
What lands on the CEO's desk: P&L with variance commentary, balance sheet highlights, cash flow summary, key metrics dashboard, and a 1-page written summary. Delivered consistently on the same day each month so the CEO knows when to expect it.
No raw data dumps. The CEO should not receive the full general ledger, the detailed AR aging, or all reconciliation reports by default. Those live in the data room for deeper questions. The monthly package is the curated view designed for decision-making.
One thing the package should always include: what changed from the prior month and why. This is what CEOs actually use to run the business. If the monthly financial package reads like a filing cabinet instead of a briefing, the finance team is missing the point.