Month-end close checklist for bookkeepers

A month-end close checklist for bookkeepers, in order, with what done looks like for each step. Payroll and sales tax for the US and Canada.

This is the whole month-end close, in the order a bookkeeper does it, from the first reconciliation to the report you send your client. Every step ends with what "done" looks like: a number that ties, or a report saved. That way you, or an agent working in your client's file, can check each one off.

Two steps depend on where your client is: payroll and sales tax. Those steps branch for the US and Canada, and every rule in them is taken from the government's own pages. Each has its own page below, linked from its step. Where we haven't written out a jurisdiction yet, the page says so and links to the authority. A third page takes a client in British Columbia through both in full. This page describes how to prepare the numbers, not what your client should claim.

Before you start

1. Statements to the last day of the month for every bank account, credit card and loan.
2. Last month's closed balance sheet, so you can compare.
3. Your client's filing schedules for payroll and sales tax, taken from their own government accounts. Don't assume a default. Each one is assigned per business.

The checklist

1. Reconcile every bank account. Match each transaction in the file to the statement. Done when the reconciled balance equals the statement's ending balance and the reconciliation report is saved.
2. Reconcile every credit card. Done when the reconciled balance equals the statement balance and the report is saved.
3. Clear out uncleared items. List anything still uncleared from earlier months: old cheques, deposits in transit, duplicates. Fix the ones that are errors, and note the ones that are only timing. If an item has been uncleared for months and you can't tell why, ask your client about it rather than writing it off. Done when every item still uncleared has a note saying why.
4. Empty the clearing accounts. Check undeposited funds, payment-processor clearing and suspense or "ask my accountant" accounts. Done when each one is at zero, or every amount left in it has a note.
5. Tie accounts receivable. Run the AR ageing report as of month end. Apply payments to the right invoices, and flag anything the client may need to chase. Done when the ageing total equals the AR balance on the balance sheet.
6. Tie accounts payable. Run the AP ageing report as of month end. Enter any bills dated in the month that haven't been entered yet. Done when the ageing total equals the AP balance on the balance sheet.
7. Post accruals and prepaids. Accrue expenses incurred but not yet billed. Move this month's share of prepaid expenses, such as insurance or annual software, into expenses. Done when each accrual and prepaid account matches its schedule.
8. Tie payroll liabilities. Compare the payroll reports with every liability account for amounts withheld from pay or owed by the employer. See Payroll, by jurisdiction for what those are where your client is. Done when each liability account equals what the payroll reports say is owing, after this month's remittances.
9. Record depreciation and fixed assets. Add any asset bought in the month to the fixed asset list, and post the depreciation entry your client's accountant has set up. If there's no depreciation schedule, ask the accountant for one, and don't pick a method yourself. Done when the fixed asset accounts match the fixed asset schedule.
10. Tie loans. Split each loan payment into principal and interest, using the split on the lender's statement or the loan's amortization schedule. Done when each loan balance equals the lender's statement.
11. Inventory, if your client has any. Record the count or the inventory system's value at month end. Done when the inventory account equals the count or the system report.
12. Sales tax. See Sales tax, by jurisdiction. Done when every sales tax account ties to the month's sales tax report and, at the end of a filing period, to the return.
13. Review the profit and loss and the balance sheet against last month. Look for large swings, negative balances where none belong, and anything left in uncategorized income or expense. Done when every swing you'd be asked about has a one-line explanation, and the uncategorized accounts are at zero.
14. Lock the period. Set the closing date in QuickBooks Online or the lock date in Xero to the last day of the month. Done when the lock is set and a test entry dated in the month is refused or warned.
15. Report to your client. Send the profit and loss and the balance sheet, labelled as prepared from your client's records for management use, with the short list of questions and notes from steps 3, 5 and 13. Done when the report is sent and saved with the month's working papers.

Why this order

Each kind of check catches different mistakes, so the order matters.

1. Steps 1 to 12 compare the books with an outside record: the bank, the card issuer, a supplier, a lender or a tax account. A trial balance can balance and still hide whole classes of error: an entry left out, the wrong amount on both sides, a receipt recorded as a payment, the right amount in the wrong account, or two errors that cancel out [1]. Most of these show up as a difference against a statement someone else keeps [2]. Reconciling first fixes everything the outside records can prove.
2. Step 13, the review, comes last because it's the only step that catches classification mistakes. A laptop booked as office supplies matches the bank to the cent. So does a payment credited to the wrong customer, even though the receivables total still agrees. Only a person or an agent looking at each account against last month will notice it.
3. If a total doesn't balance in a ledger you keep by hand, halve the difference and look for that amount on the wrong side. If the difference divides evenly by 9, look for two swapped digits [3].

The payroll and sales tax steps, by jurisdiction

• Month-end close: a worked example for a client in British Columbia 2026-10-19

  Month-end close for a BC client: WorkSafeBC, employer health tax, vacation pay, PST and the PST return. Government sources read 2026-10-19.

• Month-end close: payroll liabilities by jurisdiction 2026-10-19

  Month-end payroll checklist: what to tie in the US (deposits, Form 941, FUTA, state) and Canada (CRA remitter types, provinces). Sources dated.

• Month-end close: sales tax by jurisdiction 2026-10-19

  Month-end sales tax checklist: US state sales tax, Canadian GST/HST (periods, ITCs, return lines, due dates) and provincial sales tax.

What comes next

Doing all 15 steps every month, for every client, by hand, is where the hours go. The checklist is complete, and nothing is held back. The next problem is running it.

We're building a close kit: this checklist as a tool your own agent runs against your client's QuickBooks Online or Xero file, with the payroll and sales tax branches built in, starting with British Columbia. It isn't built yet, so there's no price or date. Join the list.