Overview
A month end close checklist is a useful tool for managing your accounting records for accuracy. A good month-end close will consist of three types of procedures that are described in more detail below:
- Balance Sheet Reconciliations
- Process Integrity Checks
- Analytical Reviews
Balance Sheet Reconciliations
Balance sheet reconciliations are used to ensure you are reporting the correct value of your assets and liabilities at month end. Reconciling the total of the balance sheet account value to a detailed listing helps you catch any errors that may have been made.
| GL Account | Process | Goal |
| Cash | Bank Reconciliation | Find any missing transactions that are not recorded in your books. |
| Unapplied Cash | -Reconcile to balance by Customer. -Compare unapplied cash to outstanding AR for customers. |
-Confirms that the customers with unapplied cash do not have invoices that their cash receipts should be applied to. -Confirms that any other transactions have not been accidentally booked to this GL Account. |
| Accounts Receivable | Reconcile to Balance by Billing record. | -Confirms that the amount owed in total matches the amount owed as a sum of the individual billing records. Ensures that cash has been applied in the correct period. -Confirms that any other transactions have not been accidentally booked to the AR Control Account. |
| Accounts Payable | Reconcile to balance by account payable record. | -Confirms that the amount owed in total matches the amount owed as a sum of the individual billing records. -Confirms that any other transactions have not been accidentally booked to The AP Control Account. |
| Vouchers Payable | Reconcile to balance by received Purchase Order Line. | -Confirms that the amount owed in total matches the amount owed as a sum of the individual received purchase order records. -Confirms that any other transactions have not been accidentally booked to this GL Account. |
| Payroll | Reconcile to labor expense for company if using labor costing from Accounting seed time cards. | Accurately account for labor in the general ledger |
| Inventory | Reconcile to quantity and value by Product. | Confirms Inventory is valued correctly. |
| Deferred Revenue | Reconcile to balance by billing record. | Confirms revenue has been recognized correctly. |
Process Integrity Checks
Process integrity checks help you determine that all records are accounted for in your financials. The goals of these types of checks are to confirm the completeness and find missing records. These types of checks will vary greatly between different organizations. Below are some examples of process checks.
| Process Name | Process Description | Reports Objects Used |
| Closed Won Opportunities | All closed won opportunities have been billed (If using Opportunity to billing). All order management opportunities have sales orders associated with them. |
Opportunities |
| Recurring Billing | All recurring billing contracts have been billed. | Recurring Billing |
| Sales Orders | All inventory sales order lines have been allocated and shipped. All shipped sales orders have been billed (If using Shipping to Billing). |
Sales Order Lines Sales Order lines with or without billing lines |
| Work Orders | All completed work orders have been built. | Projects |
| Purchase Orders | All closed purchase orders have been recorded in Accounts payable. All received purchase order lines have been paid. |
Purchase Orders Purchase Order Lines with or without account payable lines |
Analytical Reviews
Analytical reviews of your financial data help you to determine reasonableness in your GL account balances. Large fluctuations in balances should be subject to a more detailed review.
| Area | Process |
| Balance Sheet | Trial balance review of opening balance, current period activity and ending balance. |
| Profit & Loss | Review transactions by Accounting Period and GL Account. |
Comments
6 comments
This is super helpful! Thanks for putting together such a well organized list.
Our trail balance is out of balance. How does this happen??
https://acctseed.na54.visual.force.com/apex/ReportViewer?id=a2P0a000001AIL0EAO
Also, why on the Standard Balance Sheet report on the Accounting Home/Financial Statements, YTD net income on the balance sheet does not tie to the Profit & Loss?https://acctseed.na54.visual.force.com/apex/ReportViewer?id=a2P0a000001AIKgEAO
https://acctseed.na54.visual.force.com/apex/ReportViewer?id=a2P0a000001AIKwEAO
I figured this out. The standard report is using Calendar Year earnings on the balance sheet versus the correct number - that should be fiscal year earnings. So, that's the issue. How does standard balance sheet report get corrected to pick-up Fiscal Year Earnings on B/S instead of Calendar year??
Hi Jeanae,
It sounds like you will want to double check a couple of setup items:
Thank you,
Ryan
Your list of Balance Sheet items to reconcile is missing Work in Process.
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