In order to close:
- Journal entries must be prepared, reviewed and approved
- Account reconciliations need to be completed, many of which require hours, if not days, of manual matching (bank statements, credit card transactions, etc.)
- Month-end close activities must be closely tracked in order to ensure everything is done (such as close accounts payable, accounts receivable, fixed assets and many other tasks).
Once all journal entries are booked and account reconciliations are prepared, it is a good practice to analyze the fluctuations in account balances and identify potential risks or errors in the financials. This should be done before closing the books to allow for any adjustments that may need to be made as a result of the review.
For companies with multiple general ledger systems and a consolidation system, reconciliations should be performed between the general ledgers and the consolidation system to ensure any top-side entries or late adjustments have been flowed through properly.
BlackLine’s Financial Close Suite provides simple, user-friendly tools to address all of these month-end close activities in a faster, more controlled way. Additional features make meeting tight deadlines with limited resources more manageable:
- Auto-certification (completion) of certain low-risk reconciliations streamlines the process
- Automatic workflow ensures the completion of activities by the right people at the right time
- Online document repository stores supporting documentation for more complete records
- Comprehensive dashboards and reporting provide real-time monitoring around close processes
Learn more about how BlackLine’s Financial Close Suite can help you get a faster month-end close.
