Book of Secrets on the Month-End Close

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This program is a sponsored webinar and brought to you free of charge by SkyStem.

Based on our popular e-Book, the book of secrets to the month-end close will be revealed in this one-hour webinar. Learn leading practices when it comes to building a strong and sustainable month-end close that has room to grow and evolve. Discover the power of precise estimates, why reconciliations are critical to closing the books, how and when to automate, and how the chart of accounts plays into your close process.

Your Benefits For Attending:

  • Learn about leading practice recommendations for closing the books each month

Field of Study: Accounting
Program Knowledge Level: Overview
Prerequisite: None
Advanced Preparation: None Required
Delivery Method: Group Internet-Based


Feedback and Comments: [email protected] or call 646-833-3177.

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  1. Introduction
  2. What Is ART? 00:04:15
  3. Announcements 00:04:45
  4. The Puzzle of Motivation 00:07:56
  5. The Candle Problem – Idea Based 00:09:52
  6. The Answer 00:10:41
  7. The Candle Problem – Task Based 00:11:24
  8. The Candle Problem – Idea Based 00:11:59
  9. Autonomy - The Freedom Of Self-Direction 00:14:12
  10. Mastery - The Urge To Get Better At Something 00:14:20
  11. Purpose - Having A Good Reason 00:14:30
  12. Autonomy - The Freedom Of Self-Direction 00:14:45
  13. Autonomy - Tip #1 - Freedom to Experiment 00:16:09
  14. Autonomy - Tip # 2 - Build a Feedback Loop 00:18:03
  15. Autonomy - Tip # 3 - Seek External Stimulation 00:19:54
  16. Mastery - The Urge To Get Better At Something 00:23:02
  17. Mastery - Tip # 4 - Clean Up The Chart Of Accounts 00:23:44
  18. Mastery - Tip # 5 - Document Policies and Procedures 00:28:45
  19. Mastery - Tip # 6 - Cross Train More Than Once 00:31:18
  20. Mastery - Tip # 7 - Always Be Closing 00:32:41
  21. Mastery - Tip # 8 - Utilize Metrics 00:35:41
  22. Mastery - Tip # 9 - Automate 00:40:13
  23. Purpose - Having A Good Reason 00:44:45
  24. Purpose - Tip # 10 - Think Organizationally 00:46:47
  25. Purpose - Tip # Exercise. Rest 00:50:17
  26. Thank You! 00:51:38
  27. Last Tips And Takeaways 00:55:09
  28. Presentation Closing 00:59:39
  • Nancy Wu

    Nancy Wu

    Nancy Wu has spent most of her career working in consulting and auditing various accounting departments’ financial close processes for public and private organizations ($200 Million to $4 Billion).Her published work around leveraging user behavior to design internal controls is archived in the Cor [...]

    View Full Profile

ATATX Credit

Aurora Training Advantage is offering continuing education points designed to recognize dedication to training and excellence in accounting.
  • Audit 00:22:59
  • Balance Sheet (BS) 00:48:43
  • Balance Sheet Flux Analysis 00:04:26
  • Benchmarking 00:21:50
  • Chart of Accounts 00:23:58
  • P&L Variance Analysis 00:04:28
  • Reconciliation 00:48:36
  • Wage 00:08:59

Audit: A formal examination of an organization's or individual's accounts or financial situation

Balance Sheet (BS): A financial report that summarizes a company's assets (what it owns), liabilities (what it owes) and owner or shareholder equity at a given time.

Balance Sheet Flux Analysis: Balance sheet flux analysis, also known as fluctuation variance analysis, is an accounting tool that compares balance sheet accounts over time to identify and analyze significant variations. It can help companies make informed decisions, mitigate risks, and conduct balance sheet forecasting.

Benchmarking: A process of comparing the performance of a procurement function with that of its best competitor or the best organization in its industry.

Chart of Accounts: Chart of Accounts is the complete list of all the company’s accounts and balances. In QuickBooks, it represents and organizes the company's assets, liabilities, income, and expense. QuickBooks automatically creates your chart of accounts based on the industry and type of company you choose when creating your company file. If you just created your file, make sure to record the accounts' opening balances.

P&L Variance Analysis: Profit and loss (P&L) variance analysis is a process that compares a company's actual financial results to its expected results to identify differences or variances. The difference between the actual and expected results is called the variance, and it can be positive or negative.

Reconciliation: Payroll reconciliation is when you compare your payroll register with the amount you're planning to pay out to your employees to confirm those numbers match. The simplest way to think about it is double-checking your math to ensure that you pay your employees correctly. Payroll reconciliation should happen frequently.

Wage: A fixed regular payment, typically paid on a daily or weekly basis, made by an employer to an employee, especially to a manual or unskilled worker.

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Frequently Asked Questions

A fast, reliable month-end close is built on a foundation of standardization, clear accountability, and continuous improvement. Leading practices begin with a well-organized chart of accounts that reflects the business's actual reporting needs—an overcrowded or poorly structured chart of accounts is one of the most common hidden drags on close speed. Precise estimate methodologies reduce the need for late adjustments and allow preliminary close activities to begin before all transaction data is finalized. Regular account reconciliations—performed throughout the month rather than only at close—distribute the workload and catch errors earlier. Documented close calendars with assigned owners and hard deadlines eliminate ambiguity about who does what and when. Cross-training team members across multiple close tasks builds resilience when individuals are absent. Automation of high-volume, repetitive journal entries and reconciliations dramatically reduces manual effort and error rates. Tracking close cycle metrics—such as number of days to close and error rates—enables data-driven continuous improvement rather than relying on intuition alone.
Account reconciliations are the primary quality-control mechanism in the month-end close, serving as verification that every balance sheet account accurately reflects actual assets, liabilities, and equity positions. Without reconciliation, errors—whether from data entry mistakes, system integration failures, unauthorized transactions, or timing differences—go undetected and compound over time, degrading the integrity of financial statements. Reconciliations also provide the audit trail that external auditors and internal reviewers require to trust reported balances. From a process perspective, performing reconciliations throughout the month rather than treating them as a close-period activity distributes workload more evenly and allows issues to be investigated while transaction details are still fresh. A tiered approach—where higher-risk or higher-volume accounts are reconciled more frequently and lower-risk accounts on a monthly or quarterly basis—right-sizes the effort to the risk. Organizations that treat reconciliation as a strategic process rather than a checkbox compliance task consistently close faster and with fewer adjustments.
Automation delivers the highest return in the month-end close when applied to high-volume, rule-based tasks where manual processing introduces errors and consumes disproportionate time. Prime candidates for automation include recurring standard journal entries (depreciation, prepaid amortization, accruals based on formulas), intercompany eliminations, bank reconciliations with high transaction volumes, and report generation. The right time to automate is after a process has been standardized and documented—automating a broken or inconsistent process embeds the dysfunction into the system. Teams should evaluate whether their ERP system supports journal entry automation and workflow approval routing, as leveraging existing system capabilities is lower cost and lower risk than implementing standalone automation tools. For organizations with mature close processes, close management platforms like FloQast, Trintech, or BlackLine provide workflow orchestration, automated reconciliation matching, and real-time close status visibility. Introducing automation incrementally—starting with the highest-volume, most repetitive tasks—allows teams to build confidence and manage change effectively.
The chart of accounts is the structural backbone of the financial close process, and its design has a direct impact on close speed, accuracy, and reporting quality. A well-structured chart of accounts enables clear, consistent transaction coding that minimizes reclassification journal entries at close. Accounts that are too granular create unnecessary complexity and make it harder to produce management-ready reports without extensive manual consolidation; accounts that are too broad make it difficult to analyze performance drivers. Regular chart of accounts maintenance—retiring unused accounts, standardizing naming conventions, and aligning account structure with reporting needs—is often overlooked until a close slowdown forces a review. Organizations undergoing ERP migrations or rapid growth should invest in a deliberate chart of accounts redesign aligned to reporting requirements before go-live. Cleaning up the chart of accounts may feel like an administrative task, but it is one of the highest-leverage investments accounting leaders can make to permanently reduce close cycle times and improve financial reporting clarity.
Metrics transform the month-end close from a reactive scramble into a measurable, manageable process. The most fundamental close metric is days to close—tracking how many calendar or business days elapse from period end to the issuance of final management reports. Tracking this over time reveals trends and the impact of process improvements. Journal entry error rates (entries requiring correction or reversal) identify training gaps and process weaknesses. Reconciliation completion rates at specific milestones (e.g., the percentage of balance sheet accounts reconciled by day 3) provide early warning signals for close delays. The number of last-minute or top-side adjustments highlights areas where estimates or accrual processes need strengthening. Benchmarking internal metrics against industry peers—where best-in-class close cycles for mid-market companies typically run 3–5 business days—provides external context. Sharing close metrics transparently with the accounting team builds ownership and collective accountability, while presenting metrics to finance leadership demonstrates the strategic value of investment in close process improvements and technology.