Knowing that you should do a monthly close is different from knowing how to do one. This article gives you a practical checklist — the specific steps, in the right order, that produce accurate monthly financial statements for an early-stage startup. It's designed to be run by a finance team member or fractional CFO within 5–7 business days of month end.

The steps are sequenced deliberately. Do them in order the first few times; once the process is familiar, some steps can run in parallel.

Days 1–2: Data collection and reconciliation

Start by downloading bank statements for all accounts for the month just ended. In your accounting system, match every bank transaction to the corresponding accounting entry — this is the bank reconciliation. Any transactions in the bank that aren't in the accounting system need to be investigated and recorded. Any entries in the accounting system that don't correspond to a bank transaction need to be reviewed for accuracy.

Pull your credit card statements for the same period and do the same reconciliation. Credit card expenses are a common source of missing or miscategorised entries, particularly in businesses where multiple team members have company cards.

Days 2–3: Revenue and receivables review

Review every invoice raised in the month. Confirm that revenue has been recognised in the correct period — revenue should be recorded when the service is delivered, not necessarily when cash is received or when the invoice is issued. For subscription businesses, confirm that monthly recurring revenue is recognised monthly regardless of when annual contracts were paid.

Review your accounts receivable ageing report. Identify any invoices that are overdue and confirm that follow-up is in progress. Any invoices that are more than 60 days overdue should be reviewed for recoverability — if there's genuine doubt about collection, a provision may be required.

Days 3–4: Expenses, accruals, and payables

Review your accounts payable — all outstanding supplier invoices that haven't yet been paid. Confirm that they're recorded in the correct period and correctly categorised. Check for any expenses that have been incurred in the month but haven't yet been invoiced — common examples include contractor services, software usage, and professional fees where invoices arrive in arrears. These need to be accrued: recorded as an expense in the month they relate to, even though the invoice hasn't arrived yet.

Review payroll for the month. Confirm that salary costs, employer taxes, and any benefits costs are all recorded correctly and reconcile to your payroll system output.

Day 5: Financial statements and review

With all transactions reconciled and accruals recorded, produce your month-end financial statements: P&L, balance sheet, and cash flow statement. Review each one for anything that looks unexpected — a cost category that's significantly higher or lower than prior months, a balance sheet item that's moved in an unexpected direction, a cash balance that doesn't reconcile to what you expected.

Compare actuals to your budget or prior month. Document the key variances and their explanations. This variance analysis becomes the narrative backbone of your investor update — and it's the feedback loop that makes your future budgets more accurate over time.

Day 6–7: Investor update and team review

Use the close output to draft your investor update. Because your financial statements are complete and the variance analysis is done, this should take 30–45 minutes, not several hours. Schedule a brief monthly financial review with your leadership team — 30–60 minutes to review the numbers, discuss the key variances, and make any decisions that the data suggests are needed. This meeting is where the close process pays its highest dividend: turning accurate financial data into business decisions.