Checklist

Month-end close checklist

Ten steps from complete timesheets to a closed month: hours in, months signed off, invoices out and the export with your accountant, each with the role that owns it.

  • Last reviewed . Next review due .
  • A working aid, not accounting, tax, legal or employment advice. Check it against your own policies, contracts and obligations.
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What it contains

  • Ten ordered steps, each with the role that owns it and why it matters.
  • A header for the month, the entity and the person who owns the close.
  • Boxes to tick on screen or by hand once printed.

The template

  1. Send it a few working days before month end, so gaps show up while people still remember the week.

    Step owner: operations

  2. Compare logged hours with each person’s contracted week less time off; anyone well under has missing entries.

    Step owner: project managers

  3. Correct or exclude lines that should not reach the client, and write down the reason for every change.

    Step owner: account manager

  4. A signed month is the version finance invoices from. Changing it later means re-opening it, not editing it quietly.

    Step owner: account manager

  5. One per client and project, from the signed hours times the rate in force for each person.

    Step owner: finance

  6. Only for milestones the client has accepted; note the acceptance next to the invoice.

    Step owner: account manager

  7. Subcontractor and expense costs belong in the month they were incurred, on the project they were for.

    Step owner: finance

  8. Look for projects over budget and people whose cost exceeds what they billed, and note why before anyone asks.

    Step owner: finance lead

  9. Send both on the same day, so the books and the invoices describe the same month.

    Step owner: finance

  10. Write down who closed the month and when. A re-opened month gets a new close, never an edit to the old one.

    Step owner: finance lead

In Flowtly

In Flowtly, the project’s account manager signs each month off: adjustments carry a reason, signing locks them and tells finance the month can be invoiced.

See time tracking
What an unbilled hour costs

What hours that never reach an invoice cost in a year, and how a sign-off stops it.

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