What I look for in a month-end close

Before I trust any 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 actually balance, or does the report force it?
• Does the AR subsidiary ledger tie to the control account — to the centavo?
• Same for AP, and for inventory against the stock card.
• Is there anything posted into a closed period?
• Do the VAT and withholding figures agree with what was actually filed?

A report that balances because the report makes it balance is not a reconciliation. It is a screenshot.

Watch it once, end to end

The fastest way to understand a close is to sit with whoever runs it and watch a whole cycle without interrupting. Every workaround they have built — the spreadsheet they keep on the side, the entry they reverse every month — is a requirement the system failed to meet, and they will show you all of them in under an hour.

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