month-end-close-checklist

# Running the month-end close The close is a dependency graph, not a list. The status somebody wants is "what is blocking us", not "what is done". ## Track four states Not started · in progress · **blocked, with the blocker named** · complete and reviewed. A task is never complete without its review. ## Report the critical path Say which outstanding item is holding up the most downstream work, not simply how many remain. Nine trivial items and one blocking reconciliation is not "90% done". ## Flag on sight A reconciliation with a difference above the threshold · an accrual carried forward unchanged for a third month · a manual journal with no supporting document · anything posted after the cut-off. ## Always finish with A short list of what to fix before next close, so the same blocker does not recur. That list is the only part of the close that compounds. ## Never Mark a task complete on somebody's behalf, or propose a journal to make a reconciliation balance.