[Finance & business intelligence]() / [Use cases]() / [Month-end close]() [How it works]() [What you get]() [Scope]() [Start a review]() [Finance & business intelligence]()[Trusted records]() # Close the month with every balance supported. A close where every clearing balance is reconciled or has a named owner, and the open items are on the page where everyone can see them. [Start with a finance review]() [How it works]() October close **10 of 12**clearing balances reconciled, and two owned - Shopify payouts - TikTok Shop payouts One settlement split across two months - Commission, platform fees and returns Trued up to actuals - Trail pant freight bill Owner: supply lead - Merino crew deduction Owner: AR lead Closed in five days Where the October close stood on day five: every balance supported or owned. ## Sound familiar? - The close waits on one payout nobody has explained. - Balances are reconciled in five places, and nobody can show the support. - A late freight bill reopens a month you’d already closed. A close that drags makes every number late, and a quietly reopened month makes the next one suspect. ## What changes. ShowTodayWith the engine Status A task list, and who is waiting on whom One tracker: each balance, its support, its owner and its state Support Screenshots in a shared folder Evidence linked to each balance as it’s reconciled Late items Found after sign-off Carried as open items with an owner and a date Reopening Done quietly, when someone notices Logged, with who approved it and why ## How it works. 5 steps, 4 stages. - AI**1** - Rules and automation**2** - Your team**2** - Approval 1. 1 Prepare 1. Rules and automation ### Open the close calendar Tasks, dependencies and owners carry over from last month, so waiting shows up early. - NetSuite - QuickBooks 2. 2 Reconcile 1. Rules and automation ### Reconcile channel and clearing balances Payouts, fees, refunds and clearing accounts matched to the bank and the ledger. - A2X 2. AI ### Draft the support for each balance Gathers the evidence and drafts a note: what’s in the balance, and what’s left. 3. 3 Review 1. Your team Approval ### Review the support, balance by balance Your controller reads what was found, and clears or reassigns each open item. 4. 4 Sign off 1. Your team Approval ### Sign off, or reopen with a reason Your controller signs off the close. A reopened month is logged with who approved it. Late items become next month’s earlier tasks ## What you get. Real work, every week. Close calendar · October Task Owner Due State Reconcile payouts Finance lead Day 2 Done True up commission and fees Finance lead Day 3 Done Review balance support Controller Day 4 Done Sign off Controller Day 5 Closed The calendar your controller works from. Everyone can see who is waiting on whom. Open items carried to November - Trail pant freight billCarrier invoice not received · 350 units at $3.90 booked **$1,365**Supply lead - Retailer deductionMerino crew · short-paid, under review **$1,200**AR lead What was still open at sign-off, carried forward with an owner instead of buried. ## How you’ll know it’s working. 1. Days to close Tracked with the open items beside it, so speed never hides a gap. 2. Balances without support at sign-off Every balance should be reconciled or owned. This should be zero. 3. Reopened months How often a closed month has to change, and who approved it. Baselines agreed before we build. ## Works with what you have. Commerce - NetSuite Accounting - QuickBooks - A2X Planning & BI - Excel or Sheets We configure first The close checklist in your accounting platform, and your accountant’s calendar. If they already track tasks and owners, we build on that. We build when Support for channel and clearing balances is still assembled by hand each month. ## What a first build includes. Built in your accounts, around your team. Scope, fee and baseline agreed before we start. 1. 1 Design 2. 2 Build 3. 3 Run it, or hand it over [Start with a review]() [Scope this build]() ### We build - A close calendar with owners and dependencies - Balance support linked to its evidence - Open items with an owner and a date - A log of every reopened month ### We start from - Your last three closes - The chart of accounts and clearing accounts - Bank and processor access ### From your team Owner Controller Involves - Finance - Your accountant - Operations ## Questions teams ask. Do you give accounting, tax or audit opinions? No. Accounting policy, tax treatment and audit conclusions stay with your accountant, your auditors and your leadership. We build the tracker, the support and the checks around the policy they set, and flag what doesn’t fit it. Will this actually shorten the close? It depends on what holds yours up. In a case published by its close-software vendor, GOAT Group reported a close that fell from eight days to five after rebuilding its team, processes and tools, so it wasn’t AI alone. We start by finding which balances block yours. Who owns it once it’s running? You do. It’s built in your accounts, documented, with training for the people who run it. Ownership usually sits with your controller. We can keep running it with you, or step back. How do we start? Usually with a finance review: two to four weeks, a fixed fee credited to the build, and a plan that’s yours. If the job is already clear, we can scope the build directly. ## Part of your finance engine. One of 11 use cases, in 5 parts. [See the whole finance engine]() 1. [Trusted records **2**]() 2. [Margin **2**]() 3. [Cash & commitments **2**]() 4. [Payables & receivables **2**]() 5. [Reporting & decisions **3**]() In trusted records - [**Payout reconciliation**Reconcile every payout to the books, in the right month]() - **Month-end close**You’re here Works with - [**Contribution diagnosis**Explain contribution margin by product and channel]() - [**Management pack**Produce the monthly management pack from verified figures]() See it at work - [**In Fernway’s first month on TikTok Shop**Week 5: the close]() ## Close the month with nothing buried. Start with a finance review. [Start with a finance review]() [**Talk it through first**15 minutes]() We reply within one business day. --- Source: [https://www.thekeating.co/use-cases/month-end-close/]() [Contact Keating & Co](mailto:nelson@thekeating.co) · [Agent guidance](https://www.thekeating.co/llms.txt)