A month-end close checklist for accounting firms

For an accounting firm, month-end is not one close. It is twenty, or fifty, each in a different state. One client has sent everything. One has not opened the bank feed since spring. One sends receipts by WhatsApp photo at eleven at night. The work itself is rarely hard; keeping track of where each client stands is.

The answer most firms reach is a checklist: the same steps, in the same order, for every client, with a record of who did each step and when. This post gives you a practical seven-step close, the habits that keep it moving, and a way to see every client's progress at once.

Why the same checklist for every client matters

When each accountant closes clients their own way, the firm depends on memory. Holidays and staff changes hurt, reviews take longer, and partners cannot tell at a glance which clients are late. A shared checklist turns month-end into a routine anyone in the firm can pick up, and makes the review step much faster, because the reviewer knows exactly what was done.

The checklist does not need to be long. It needs to be the same everywhere, and it needs to end with the period locked so nobody changes closed numbers by accident.

The seven steps

1. Bank reconciled. Every bank and card account matched to the bank statement up to the last day of the month. Unmatched lines are the first sign of missing invoices, missing bills or payments posted to the wrong customer. Do this first: most of the later steps depend on it.

2. Supplier bills entered. Every bill dated in the month is recorded, including the ones the client forgot to send. Compare against last month's regular suppliers: rent, utilities, software, the cleaning company. A supplier that billed every month and is missing this month is usually a bill sitting in someone's inbox.

3. Accruals. Costs that belong to the month but have not been billed yet, and income earned but not yet invoiced. Keep a short standing list per client, so accruals are not reinvented every month.

4. VAT reviewed. Sales and purchase VAT checked for odd rates, missing VAT numbers and documents in the wrong period. Even in months without a return, a quick review prevents a painful quarter-end.

5. Depreciation run. The month's depreciation posted from the asset register, with new assets added and disposals recorded.

6. Payroll posted. Salaries, employer costs and any end-of-service or leave provisions posted, and the payroll control accounts agreeing with the payroll reports.

7. Period locked. The month closed in the books, so nothing can be posted into it without reopening it on purpose. This is the step that turns "we think it is done" into "it is done".

If a step does not apply to a client, mark it as not needed rather than skipping it silently. The difference matters when someone reviews the close three months later.

Chasing the client without losing the thread

Most delays at month-end are not accounting problems; they are waiting problems. A missing bank statement, an unexplained payment, a bill nobody can find. The usual way of chasing, a mix of e-mails and messages, scatters the answers across inboxes.

A better pattern:

• One request per thing you need, written plainly: "Bank statement for September, all accounts", not "please send the documents".
• A due date on each request, especially when a close step depends on it.
• The answer on the request itself, with the file attached, so the next person in the firm sees the whole story.
• Close the request once you have reviewed the answer, so open requests always mean real waiting.

Clients respond faster when a request is specific and they can answer it from their phone. They also respond faster when they are told in the channel they actually read.

See every client on one page

Partners and managers need a work list, not fifty separate files. For each client, the useful columns are:

• Close progress: how many of the seven steps are done for the month being closed, for example 3 of 7.
• Requests waiting: how many requests are open and how many came back answered.
• Bank lines to match: a quick sense of how much reconciliation is left.
• Next due date, with how many items are late.

Sorted by the nearest due date, that page tells you each morning where to put people.

Onboarding new clients the same way

The same thinking applies when a client joins. A short onboarding checklist, with each step given either to the firm or to the client and a due date, prevents the first close from becoming a rescue mission. Typical steps: opening balances, chart of accounts, bank accounts connected or imported, tax settings, regular suppliers and customers, and who at the client answers questions.

If the client is still on spreadsheets, our post on moving off spreadsheets in a week is a good thing to send them before the first meeting.

Access the client controls

Firms work best with access that the client grants and can see. The client should be able to choose which areas the firm can read or change, which branches, and until when, and should be able to take access back in one step. Every change the firm makes should be recorded with the accountant's name. This protects the client, and it protects the firm when a question comes up later about who changed what.

How to do it in Kluvan

The Accountant workspace is included on every Kluvan plan: one accounting or implementation firm works in a client's organisation with its own sign-ins, and the firm's people use none of the client's seats. Kluvan runs online, so there is nothing to install on your side or the client's.

• The client invites the firm. The owner enters the firm's partner code or e-mail, or approves the firm's access request, and chooses for each area None, Read or Full (with a payroll-only option for HR), the branches and an optional end date. See give your accountant access.
• The firm's work list. On the partner portal, Clients lists every client with its state, setup steps open, requests waiting, close progress, bank lines to match and the next due date. Open a client, work in its Kluvan, and switch client from the banner. See work in a client's organisation.
• The month-end close. Accountant → Month-end close has the seven steps above: Bank reconciled, Supplier bills entered, Accruals, VAT reviewed, Depreciation run, Payroll posted and Period locked. Each step opens its screen, takes a note, records who marked it done, and can be marked not needed. Period locked ticks itself when the month is closed in Books. See close the month for a client.
• Requests to the client. Send a request with a due date from Accountant → Requests. The client's owner and managers see it on Today and are told by e-mail or WhatsApp according to their own notification choices; they answer on the request with a file. See ask a client for documents.
• Onboarding checklists. Start a service or trading checklist and give each step to the firm or the client with a due date. See onboard a client.
• A record of everything. Every read and change by the firm is logged with the accountant's name and firm, and the owner can narrow or revoke access at once.

Two limits today: an organisation works with one firm at a time, and the work list does not yet show VAT return due dates or payroll run status.

For firms with many small clients, the free Books starter plan is a simple way to get every client onto clean digital ledgers before the first close. See pricing and the partners page.

Pick your next month-end and run it with the seven steps in three clients. By the second month, you will want it everywhere. And when your clients ask how to get paid faster, point them to getting paid on time without becoming the bad guy.