Finance & Accounting

Month-End Close: A Complete Walkthrough

Closing the month in Fintra step by step: reconciliations, accruals, the close workflow with status tracking, flux narrative review, and locking the period.

Updated July 7, 202611 min read1 labAccountantOwner / Founder

The month-end close turns a pile of transactions into financial statements someone can act on. Fintra gives the close its own workflow: a status you transition through as work completes, alerts for what is unfinished, an AI flux narrative that drafts the "why did this move" story, and a period lock at the end so closed numbers stay closed.

This walkthrough is the in-product companion to our evergreen Month-End Close Checklist guide - that guide covers the methodology and benchmarks; this page covers where each step lives in Fintra.

The close sequence

A reliable close is a fixed sequence - cash first, then sub-ledgers, then accruals, then review, then lock. Days below assume a 5-day close; compress or stretch to your team.

Day-by-day close

1
Day 1 - Cash and cutoff
Reconcile every bank and credit card account (see Bank Reconciliation). Confirm the AR and AP cutoffs: last invoice and last bill of the month are in; anything dated next month stays out.
2
Day 2 - Sub-ledgers
Tie AR aging and AP aging to their control accounts on the balance sheet. Post payroll journals (the payroll GL export gives you the balanced entry). Run fixed-asset depreciation.
3
Day 3 - Accruals and prepaids
Accrue received-but-not-billed expenses; release prepaid amortization; book commission accruals from the sales commission module; post any revenue deferrals (ASC 606 add-on handles the schedule if licensed).
4
Day 4 - Review
Run the P&L and balance sheet. Generate the flux narrative - Fintra drafts an explanation of significant month-over-month movements - and verify or correct each explanation. Anything unexplained goes back to days 1–3.
5
Day 5 - Close and report
Work the close alerts to zero, transition the period status to closed, and publish the reporting package. The period lock prevents backdated postings from silently changing history.

Using the close workflow: status, transitions, alerts

The close is a tracked object in Fintra, not a shared doc. Each accounting period carries a close status you transition as work advances, and the platform surfaces alerts for conditions that should block a close.

Close status: check where the current period stands and what remains - the status is the single answer to "are we closed?"
Transitions: move the period through the close states as milestones complete; transitions are recorded with who and when, which is your close audit trail.
Alerts: unreconciled accounts, unposted drafts, sub-ledger mismatches - resolve or consciously accept each before closing.
Flux narrative: a generated first draft of variance explanations (month over month) that the reviewer edits and approves - the reviewer owns the story, the AI just types the first version.

Locking the period and handling late items

Closing the period locks it: postings dated inside a closed period are rejected, which is the only way "final" numbers stay final. Late-arriving items are normal - the discipline is where you book them.

Situation	Handling
Bill arrives for last month, immaterial (e.g., $180)	Book it in the current period; nobody restates for lunch money
Bill arrives for last month, material and was accrued	Reverse the accrual, book the actual - net effect near zero
Bill arrives for last month, material and missed	Deliberate reopen or current-period catch-up per your accountant’s policy; document either way
Error discovered in a closed period	Fix-forward journal in the open period with a memo referencing the original

Late-item decision table

Pre-lock final checks

Every bank and card reconciliation session completed for the period
AR and AP aging tie to the balance sheet control accounts
Payroll journal for every pay run in the period posted
Close alerts resolved or documented as accepted
Flux narrative reviewed and approved by a human
P&L and balance sheet exported for the reporting package

Hands-on labs

Practice against a realistic scenario. Each lab lists the steps, what you should see, and the checkpoints that confirm you got the same result.

Lab 1

Close Acme’s July

Scenario

It is August 2 and you are closing July for Acme Services. State of play: bank reconciliation done (from the reconciliation lab), two payroll runs posted, one known accrual needed - CleanCo delivered $900 of supplies on July 29 and has not billed yet - and rent shows double last month’s value because the new second-location lease started July 1.

Steps

1
Open the close status for July and list what is outstanding.
Expected: Reconciliations show complete; alerts flag any unposted drafts.
2
Post the accrual: DR Supplies expense $900 / CR Accrued liabilities $900, dated July 31, memo "CleanCo received-not-billed, reverse in August".
Expected: July supplies expense reflects the delivery; the liability sits on the balance sheet.
3
Tie AR aging ($X) and AP aging to the balance sheet AR and AP lines.
Expected: Both tie to the cent; if not, find the direct-to-control-account journal that caused it.
4
Generate the flux narrative and review the rent line.
Expected: The draft flags rent up ~100%; edit the explanation to "Second location lease commenced July 1 - permanent step-up," then approve.
5
Resolve remaining close alerts, then transition July to closed.
Expected: July locks; a test journal dated July 15 is rejected.
6
In August, reverse the $900 accrual so CleanCo’s real bill books cleanly when it arrives.
Expected: August starts with the reversing entry; net effect across months is the true expense in July.

Checkpoints - you got it right if…

The $900 accrual posted July 31 and its reversal posted in August
Flux narrative rent explanation rewritten with the business reason and approved
July status is closed and a backdated posting is rejected
AR/AP agings tie to the balance sheet control accounts

Frequently asked questions

How long should our close take?

SMB benchmark: 5 business days is good, 3 is excellent, 10+ means unowned dependencies. The biggest single accelerator is reconciling high-volume accounts mid-month so day 1 only covers the stub period.

What exactly does closing a period prevent?

New or edited postings dated inside the closed period. Reports for closed months therefore never change silently. Corrections happen as fix-forward journals in the open period, or via a deliberate, documented reopen.

Is the AI flux narrative safe to send to my board or bank?

After human review, yes - that is the design. The narrative drafts the movement analysis from the numbers; the reviewer adds business context and approves. Never forward an unreviewed draft.

Do I have to close every month, or can I close quarterly?

Close monthly. Quarterly closes triple the search space for every error and make the flux review nearly useless. A light monthly close beats a heavy quarterly one on both effort and accuracy.

Where do payroll numbers enter the close?

Each processed pay run produces a balanced GL export - wage and employer-tax expense against net-pay and tax liabilities. Post it per run (day 2 of the close at the latest) so the P&L carries the full labor cost of the month.

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Keep going

Finance & AccountingBank Reconciliation: Tie the Books to the BankRead doc Finance & AccountingBills & Accounts Payable: Control What Goes OutRead doc Budgeting & PlanningBudget vs. Actuals: The Monthly Variance ReviewRead doc

Go deeper in the guides

Month-End CloseThe Month-End Close Checklist: Every Step, Day by DayRead guide AI in AccountingAI Accounting: The Practical Guide for Finance TeamsRead guide

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