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Free download: Printable checklist (PDF)

Month-End Close Checklist for Small Business Bookkeepers

38 tasks in the order most small business closes run, from statements and reconciliations to adjustments, review and locking the period.

Use this checklist to close one client or one company for one month. Work top to bottom: cash first, then revenue and expenses, then adjustments, then review.

Skip lines that do not apply (payroll, inventory, loans) and add your own. Print one copy per client per month and keep it with the period's reconciliations.

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Want the schedules this checklist refers to (prepaids, accruals, loan splits) already built? The Small Business Bookkeeping Spreadsheet Bundle has them. Small Business Bookkeeping Spreadsheet Bundle: Pricing to Payroll

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What is inside

  • 1. Before you start (4 items)
  • 2. Cash: bank and credit card accounts (6 items)
  • 3. Revenue and receivables (5 items)
  • 4. Expenses and payables (5 items)
  • 5. Payroll (3 items)
  • 6. Adjustments (5 items)
  • 7. Review (5 items)
  • 8. Report and lock the period (5 items)

The full download is in the PDF after you sign up. This is the first section.

1. Before you start

  • Confirm the period you are closing and the close deadline.
  • Download every bank, credit card and loan statement for the month.
  • Ask anyone still posting to the period to finish, or note who is.
  • Open last month's close notes and carry forward any open items.