What I check in a month-end close

Before I trust an accounting system's numbers, I run the same short list against it. None of it is clever. All of it has caught something.

The checklist

• Does the trial balance really balance, or does the report force it to?
• Does the AR subsidiary ledger tie to the control account, to the centavo?
• Same question for AP, and for inventory against the stock card.
• Has anything been posted into a closed period?
• Do the VAT and withholding figures match what was actually filed?

A report that balances because the report makes it balance isn't a reconciliation. It's a screenshot.

Watch one close from start to finish

The quickest way to understand a close is to sit with whoever runs it and watch a whole cycle without interrupting. Every workaround they've built, like the spreadsheet on the side or the entry they reverse every month, is a requirement the system didn't meet. They'll show you all of them in under an hour.

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