Closing your books in five days, not twenty

Most growing companies close their books in three to four weeks. By then the numbers are too old to act on.

A five-day close is realistic for almost any company under $50M in revenue. It takes a checklist, clear owners and a few habits.

The checklist

• Day 1: bank and card reconciliations, cut-off for invoices.
• Day 2: payroll, accruals and prepaid expenses.
• Day 3: revenue recognition and deferred revenue.
• Day 4: review against budget, investigate big variances.
• Day 5: final review, dashboard update and a short memo.

Speed comes from doing small things every week, not heroic things at month end.

Weekly habits that help

Code transactions every week. Chase missing receipts on Fridays. Keep a running list of accrual items as they happen. By the end of the month, most of the close is already done.