Should the whole list be worked in one sitting?

No, and the split is not arbitrary. The capture block is spread across days because it is waiting on other people, so half an hour on three mornings collects more than two hours on one. The calculation block is the opposite and wants a single sitting: a close abandoned half finished on a Tuesday is the one that gets picked up on Thursday and sent without the two costs that landed in between.

Can somebody else run this?

The list exists to answer that. Hand somebody the four blocks and watch where they stop: every point at which they have to ask you something is a rule that lives in your head rather than on the page. Write that rule into the standing set-up and give the list back. Two passes of that and the close survives a month you are not there for, which is the only reason to keep a checklist rather than a habit.

What if a cost arrives after the statements have gone?

It goes into the next month as an adjustment line that names the month it relates to. Re-opening a closed month to slot it in creates two versions of the same period, and a second version costs more trust than a late line ever does.

Does every item need ticking every month?

The standing set-up list is quarterly. The other three are monthly, including in the quiet months. A list that is only worked when the month looks complicated stops being a control and becomes a memory aid, which is the thing it was meant to replace.

The month-end close checklist

How to use this

This is the template, not the argument. If you have not settled the order of your close yet, read the sequence first: it explains why each step depends on the one above it, and what breaks when they are run out of order. The month-end close, in the order that works.

What follows is four lists. Copy them somewhere you can actually tick: a shared document, a task list, a printed sheet on the desk. The value is not the list, it is the tick. An item that cannot be ticked is a problem announcing itself while there is still time to do something about it.

Dates are given as working days after month end rather than as calendar dates, so the list survives a month that ends on a Saturday. Pick your own send date once, publish it to owners, and then hold it.

The standing set-up, checked once a quarter

Six things do not change month to month, and every month one of them is wrong costs you a close. They are worth a quarterly look rather than a monthly one.

Set once, check quarterly

The revenue cut-off rule is written down: check-out, check-in, or apportioned by night.
The cost cut-off date is published to cleaners, contractors and linen suppliers.
Every agreement in force matches the fee rate and the fee base the system actually applies.
Every property has an owner, a bank destination and a named statement recipient on file.
The send date is in the calendar, with the payout date after it rather than beside it.
Somebody other than you can run the list, and has run it at least once.

Working days one to three: capture and reconcile

Everything in this block is gathering. Nothing is calculated yet, because a calculation is only ever as good as what was in front of it when it ran.

Capture and reconcile

Every stay in the period is finalised: no pending cancellations, no unconfirmed modifications.
Each channel’s own payout report is agreed to the revenue recorded for the same period.
Any difference between the two is explained in writing, not left as a rounding shrug.
Outstanding supplier paperwork chased against the published cut-off date.
Every cost carries a property, a date, a category and attached evidence.
Costs caused by a stay are allocated to that stay, not only to the property.
Bulk and multi-property purchases split at the point of capture, across what they cover.
The cost list scanned for anything unusually large, oddly named or still uncategorised.
Anything that arrived after the cut-off is queued for next month, not slipped into this one.

The scan in the second-to-last line is the cheapest control in the whole close. Five minutes reading a cost list for things that look wrong catches more than any amount of arithmetic afterwards, because arithmetic cannot tell you that a boiler service was booked to the wrong flat. A category list that survives a year.

Working days four and five: fees, statements, send

Now the month is complete, so it can be calculated. This half of the close belongs to whoever carries the owner relationship, because every item on it is a judgement rather than a task.

Fees, statements and send

Fees applied from the agreement, at the agreed rate and the agreed base.
Any ad-hoc or one-off charge approved before it appears on a statement.
Statements generated after the last cost was captured, not before.
One statement read end to end as an owner would read it, for sense rather than arithmetic.
Every deduction on it carries a basis line a reader can check without asking.
Any figure an owner queried last month looked at again before this month goes out.
Statements sent on the published date, whether or not the month was interesting.

The tie-out that proves the month

One subtraction closes the close. The sum of the net-to-owner lines on the statements you sent must equal the money that left the account on the payout run. Where it does not, the difference is a cost, a fee or a payment you have not found yet, and it is far cheaper to find it this week than at year end.

Tie-out: statements to the payout run
Owner	Statements	Net to owner	Left the account
Owner A	2	£2,511.00	£2,511.00
Owner B	1	£1,180.40	£1,180.40
Owner C	3	£4,062.35	£4,062.35
Total	6	£7,753.75	£7,753.75

Illustrative figures. The only thing that matters here is that the last two columns are identical.

Do the same subtraction on the supplier side. What left the account for suppliers should equal the costs you recharged plus anything you chose to absorb. Two subtractions a month is what turns a year end into an afternoon rather than a fortnight of reconstruction.

Close the month

Payout run reconciles, line for line, to the net figures on the statements sent.
Supplier payments reconcile to costs recharged plus costs absorbed.
Any unreconciled difference is named, dated and owned rather than carried forward quietly.
The month is closed, and corrections from here go into the open month.
One note written: what took longest, and what to change before next month.

When an item will not tick

A checklist earns nothing if one untickable item stops the whole close. Each of these has a standing answer, so the list keeps moving and the problem stays visible instead of becoming the reason nothing went out.

A supplier invoice has not arrived: tick the cut-off, not the invoice. It becomes a named adjustment line next month.
A channel report will not agree: send with the figure you can evidence, and record the difference as an open item with a date against it.
An agreement has lapsed: apply the last agreed terms and flag it. Never quietly invent a new rate inside a close.
An owner queried last month mid-close: answer that first, or you will be answering two months at once.
You are away on the send date: the date holds. That is exactly what the standing set-up list exists for.

The one thing never to do is reissue a statement for a month that has already been sent. A correction belongs in the open month, where it is dated, visible and explained, rather than in a second version of a month the owner has already filed.

Common questions

Should the whole list be worked in one sitting?: No, and the split is not arbitrary. The capture block is spread across days because it is waiting on other people, so half an hour on three mornings collects more than two hours on one. The calculation block is the opposite and wants a single sitting: a close abandoned half finished on a Tuesday is the one that gets picked up on Thursday and sent without the two costs that landed in between.
Can somebody else run this?: The list exists to answer that. Hand somebody the four blocks and watch where they stop: every point at which they have to ask you something is a rule that lives in your head rather than on the page. Write that rule into the standing set-up and give the list back. Two passes of that and the close survives a month you are not there for, which is the only reason to keep a checklist rather than a habit.
What if a cost arrives after the statements have gone?: It goes into the next month as an adjustment line that names the month it relates to. Re-opening a closed month to slot it in creates two versions of the same period, and a second version costs more trust than a late line ever does.
Does every item need ticking every month?: The standing set-up list is quarterly. The other three are monthly, including in the quiet months. A list that is only worked when the month looks complicated stops being a control and becomes a memory aid, which is the thing it was meant to replace.

Guide · 6 min read

The month-end close, in the order that works

A close is a sequence with dependencies. Run the steps out of order and you will reissue statements. Here is the order, the cut-offs, and the two reconciliations that catch almost everything.

Guide · 7 min read

Owner statements that stop the questions

Most owner queries come from five line items. Here is how to lay a statement out so the answer is already on the page.

Guide · 7 min read

Cost categories that keep a year tidy

A short, stable category list is the difference between a year you can compare and a year you have to reconstruct. How to build one, where to put the awkward costs, and when to change it.

Figures in the worked examples are illustrative — they show the method, not a going rate. This guide is general information, not professional advice.