Free PDF · Bookkeeping
The Month-End Close Checklist
A print-ready close worksheet: ten documented steps, each with a named owner, due date, evidence reference, open questions, and reviewer sign-off.
What's inside
- Ten close steps, from setting the reporting cutoff to reviewed financial statements
- Owner, due date, and evidence reference columns for every step
- An unresolved question / next action column so open items get escalated
- Reviewer and status columns plus a close sign-off block
- Print-ready PDF with one clearly fictional example row you can copy
Why owner, evidence, and review columns matter
The worksheet helps a team record ownership, supporting evidence, and open questions during a close. Treat the steps as a starting point to adapt with your finance team and your own documented process, not a universal sequence.
- • Owner: one named person per step, never a team — shared ownership is how steps get skipped.
- • Evidence reference: point to the statement, report, file, or journal entry number, not the private details themselves.
- • Unresolved question / next action: log the question, the next step, and who it's waiting on before the close is called done.
- • Reviewer / status: a second person signs off, so nothing is marked complete by whoever prepared it.
The Aligned Ledger is not a CPA firm and does not provide tax preparation, attest or assurance services, payroll processing, or bill pay.
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