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One CFO's Secret to Timely Financials - Sep 15, 2008

Posted by: Mark Gandy in Articles

I'm curious. When do you receive your financials? Weeks after the new month? Longer? What if I said one day? That may be impossible in your situation, but I do have some quick suggetions for getting your numbers quicker each month.

I took on my first CFO client in 2001. In that situation, we closed the financials the last day of the month--yes, I was a bit fanatical about a quick close. My secret? I created a simple checklist in a spreadsheet. All responsible parties followed the checklist items allowing for that quick close.

I know it sounds simple, but it works. Not only are month-end closings quick, but they are consistent from month to month because the process stays the same.

There's one other process that makes month-end closings go faster. Have your staff reconcile cash every single morning in the accounting system (more on this best practice in a future blog entry). In cases where hundreds of line items hit the bank account daily, this procedure eliminates chasing down errors which may take hours when reconciling a full month of transactions under the typical approach.

There are many other ways to generate those financials earlier in the month, but these two are the perfect starting point.