close-status

name	close-status
description	Use when reporting the evidence-backed status of a named month-end or quarter-end close, its blockers, counted completion, and dependency path. Not for explaining budget variances; use variance-analysis.
role_groups	["finance","leadership"]
jtbd	Month-end close has many moving parts and dependencies. This shows the close checklist for the current period, flags incomplete items, surfaces blockers from recent meetings, and tracks dependencies on other teams so you know exactly where you stand.
time_investment	10-15 minutes per check

When to use

Use when a finance or leadership user asks where a specified close period stands, what evidence supports completion, what is blocked, or which dependencies determine the sequence. Confirm the period, close deadline, and checklist scope before counting.

Do not use this skill to post journal entries, change the close checklist, certify completion, assign owners, or approve an accounting treatment. Not for budget-versus-actual explanation, forecasting, or audit sign-off.

Inputs and source discipline

1. Identify the period, fiscal calendar/timezone, checklist version, and deadline. Use the controller- or process-owner-approved authoritative checklist as the denominator source; record its source, source date, date checked, and as-of date. Never invent a deadline or silently substitute a remembered checklist.
2. For each checklist row, capture its stable label, required evidence, current evidence source, source date, date checked, named owner only if explicitly recorded, and confidence. Prefer system/close evidence and dated owner confirmation over meeting notes; use notes to locate evidence, not to override it. Preserve contradictory sources.
3. Keep the checklist's scope and exclusions explicit. If the authoritative checklist is missing, partial, or stale, report the denominator as unknown rather than calculating a completion percentage.

Method

1. Work read-only from the authoritative checklist and build one row per required item. Count an item complete only when its required evidence is present, dated, in scope, and reconciled; a statement that work is probably done is not completion evidence.
2. Assign mutually exclusive states from evidence: complete, in progress, blocked, not started, or unknown. Use blocked only for a known impediment or dependency; use unknown when evidence is absent, stale, or contradictory; use not started only when the source supports that state. Never convert missing evidence into not started.
3. Report completed rows as a counted numerator over the checklist denominator. Show a percentage only when both are known and the counting rule is stated. Calculate days remaining only from a supplied deadline and the stated as-of date.
4. Build the dependency graph from explicit row dependencies, deadlines, and evidence. Call a chain the critical path only when the dependency evidence supports that claim; without durations or ordering evidence, report a dependency chain and say criticality is unknown.

Truth and uncertainty rules

Use observed for a row state supported by dated evidence, inferred for a suggested dependency or interpretation, unknown for missing or insufficient evidence, stale for evidence outside the relevant freshness or period, and contradictory when sources disagree. State confidence, source, date, and as-of for each conclusion. Never invent dates, metrics, owners, intent, money, percentages, causes, status, or evidence. Recommendations are not human decisions.

Output contract

Return a status snapshot containing:

• period, checklist source/version, close deadline, as-of date, and scope;
• a row-level authoritative checklist with state, counted evidence, source/date, confidence, and explicitly sourced owner/dependency fields;
• numerator/denominator and completion percentage only when valid;
• separate blocked, unknown, and not-started lists, with the evidence or missing evidence;
• the dependency-derived critical path or an explicit unknown; and
• source register, stale inputs, unresolved contradictions, and read-only recommendations for human review. Do not label the close complete unless the counted evidence supports it.

Safety and write boundaries

Remain read-only by default. Do not edit the checklist, statuses, owners, accounting systems, or close records. If a write, export, or other action is requested, preview the exact target, changes, and side effects; redact secrets or unapproved personal/confidential content; wait for explicit confirm from the responsible human authority; then perform only that approved action.

Verification and recovery

Read back the status output and reconcile every row state and counted numerator to the checklist denominator. Re-check deadline arithmetic, dependency edges, source dates, and as-of scope; fail closed when a check cannot be performed. If a checklist or evidence source fails, preserve the last draft, mark affected rows unknown or blocked, record the failure, and rerun after refresh. Do not overwrite evidence or silently promote an inferred state to complete.