Signature Analytics
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • Home
  • Services
    • Comprehensive Assessments
    • Outsourced Accounting Services
    • CFO & Business Advisory Services
  • About Us
    • Our Approach
    • Careers
  • Industries
    • Nonprofits
    • Construction
    • Professional Services
      • Marketing Agencies
    • Technology
    • Manufacturing & Distribution
    • Recovery & Wellness Centers
    • Life Sciences & BioTech
  • Resources
    • Blog
    • Case Studies
    • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Talk To An Expert
  • Menu Menu

How Long Should I Wait for My Monthly Close?

News
Business owner waiting for the month end close

Table of Contents

  • First, What is a Monthly Close?
  • Benefits of an Accurate, Relevant, and Timely Monthly Close
    • Decision Making
    • Transparency
    • Risk Management
  • How Long Should the Month-end Close Process Take?
  • What Can You Do to Speed Up the Monthly Close Process? 
    • Evaluate Your Current Accounting Processes
    • Bring in an Outsourced Accounting Team
    • Set Clear Deadlines
    • Conduct Regular Reviews
  • Common Challenges and How to Overcome Them
    • Missing Data
    • Too Many Data Sources
    • Manual Processes
    • Poor Project Management
  • Learn More About Signature Analytics

As a small to mid-market business owner, you rely on timely and accurate financial reporting to make informed decisions about your business. However, if your accounting team is struggling to keep up with your monthly close, it can be frustrating and stressful.

In this blog post, we’ll discuss how long you should wait for your monthly close and what you can do to speed up the process.

First, What is a Monthly Close?

A monthly close is the process of finalizing your financial statements for the month, including your profit and loss statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement. This process typically involves reconciling your bank and credit card accounts, reviewing your transactions for accuracy, and ensuring that all necessary journal entries have been made.

To learn more about best practices for the month-end closing process, read our blog, here.

Benefits of an Accurate, Relevant, and Timely Monthly Close

When done right, the month-end close provides your company a with accurate, timeley, and relevant financial statements and information to improve your organization, decision making, and risk management.

Decision Making

The month-end close allows you to keep accurate financial records throughout the year so you can see trends and make insightful business decisions at any time, not just at the end of the year.

At a quick glance, you can get a snapshot of where there are revenue problems, expense issues, operational issues, or inconsistencies within your company The month-end close supports your efforts to keepyour business  on the right track through monthly reviews of key financial data.

Transparency

The month-end close also makes your business transparent to others, instead of only having annual-financial data that could be months old and tell an inaccurate story. This provides great value for when you’re seeking a much-needed loan, or if there are potential buyers looking at an acquisition.

Risk Management

The monthly close process allows for the identification of errors or irregularities in financial statements, which could signal potential risks to your business. By detecting and addressing such issues early, you can mitigate their impact and prevent them from escalating into more significant risks.

It also involves a series of checks and balances designed to ensure the accuracy and completeness of financial data. These controls can help identify and address potential risks related to fraud, errors, or omissions in financial reporting, thereby reducing the risk of financial misstatements.

How Long Should the Month-end Close Process Take?

The length of time it takes to complete a monthly close can vary depending on the size of your business, the complexity of your accounting processes, and the efficiency of your accounting team. In general, a monthly closae should take between 5 and 15 business days. This means that if your month ends on the 31st, you should expect to receive your financial statements the following month.

What Can You Do to Speed Up the Monthly Close Process? 

If your accounting team is struggling to keep up with your monthly close, there are several things you can do to speed up the process:

Evaluate Your Current Accounting Processes

Review your current accounting processes to identify areas where you can streamline or automate tasks. This may include investing in accounting software, creating standardized procedures for recurring tasks, simplify procedures, or outsourcing certain functions.

Bring in an Outsourced Accounting Team

Bringing on an outsourced accounting team with expertise in day-to-day accounting and accurate reporting can provide significant value for small to mid-market business owners. Not only can they help streamline your monthly close process, but they can also provide valuable insights and expertise to help you make informed decisions about your business. 

Additionally, outsourcing your accounting functions can help you reduce overhead costs associated with hiring and managing an in-house accounting team.

At Signature Analytics, we specialize in providing outsourced accounting services to help businesses achieve timely and accurate financial reporting. Our team of experienced professionals can help you streamline your accounting processes and provide valuable insights to help you grow your business.

Set Clear Deadlines

Establish clear deadlines for the monthly close and communicate them to your accounting team. This can help ensure that everyone is on the same page and working towards the same goal.

Conduct Regular Reviews

Regularly review your accounting processes to identify areas of weakness and opportunities for improvement. This can help you identify bottlenecks and streamline your processes.

Common Challenges and How to Overcome Them

Missing Data

Missing data is a significant issue in the monthly close process because it can cause delays in reconciling accounts and make it challenging to report accurate financial information. When financial data is incomplete or missing, accountants may need to spend additional time tracking down missing information and reconciling accounts, which can significantly slow down the monthly close process. Inaccurate financial reporting can also lead to costly errors and misrepresentations of the company’s financial health, which can have serious consequences for the business.

Too Many Data Sources

Many organizations rely on spreadsheets, emails, phone calls, and in-person meetings to gather the data for their month-end close.

This causes delays as your accounting team is trying to recover the necessary information from employees, software systems, and accounts. It’s vital that, when it’s time for the month-end close to begin, you can draw all your financial data from as few sources as possible including a centralized source, such as Netsuite \, Quickbooks, or other accounting platform..

Manual Processes

Unfortunately, human beings are error prone. While this may be okay when you spill your coffee in the morning, you don’t want human error anywhere near your accounting system.

You can reduce human error by automating your accounts with the right software and avoid mistakes that are often made with manual entry of data.

Poor Project Management

Any area of your business is going to falter with poor project management, and your accounting department is no exception.

When performing the month-end close, you want to have systems in place that increase accountability and quality-check the collected data. You also want your accounting team to have good time management processes by setting up deadlines and goals for them to work towards.

Learn More About Signature Analytics

A timely monthly close is critical for small to mid-market business owners who rely on up-to-date financial information to make smart decisions about their business. If your accounting team is struggling to keep up, there are several steps you can take to speed up the process. 

At Signature Analytics, we specialize in helping businesses improve their accounting processes and streamline their monthly close. Contact us today to learn how we can help you achieve a faster and more accurate monthly close.

If you’re interested in outsourcing the month-end close process, or any of your other accounting needs, contact us today.

Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Link to Instagram
  • Link to Youtube
https://signatureanalytics.com/wp-content/uploads/Screen-Shot-2023-04-20-at-1.02.26-PM.jpg 724 1106 support https://signatureanalytics.com/wp-content/uploads/Signature-Analytics-Logo-Blue-Darker-Grey-Horizontal-Main.png support2023-04-30 20:00:202023-04-20 20:04:02How Long Should I Wait for My Monthly Close?

Connect With Us

Search the Blog

Read More

  • Compliance and Private vs Public Construction JobsDecember 1, 2023 - 8:34 pm

    Understanding the complexities of private and public construction jobs is crucial for contractors, as Zak Krauss and Brandon Manning explain in their insightful discussion. Public projects, in particular, bring a unique set of challenges and financial considerations, chiefly due to prevailing wage regulations and union interactions. Prevailing Wage Prevailing wages significantly impact the bidding and […]

  • How to maximize cashflow for your professional services companyHow to Maximize Cash Flow for Your Professional Services CompanyDecember 1, 2023 - 8:38 am

    As a professional services company, cash flow is crucial to your success. Whether you’re in marketing, advertising, HR, IT, law, or any other professional service, managing your finances effectively is essential for sustainable growth. That’s where Signature Analytics comes in.  As a leading provider of outsourced accounting services for professional services companies, we have the […]

  • The Chief Financial Officer is analyzing the Revenue per Category on a mobile device.Controller vs CFO: 3 Key DifferencesNovember 30, 2023 - 7:41 am

    Though the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and the financial controller work closely together, they have significantly different roles within a company. The biggest distinctions can best be described by breaking down the operations and responsibilities of each role. In this article, we’ll look at the three key differences between these positions. We’ll address their scope, […]

  • Estimating Costs for Construction Businesses: Knowledge is PowerNovember 26, 2023 - 7:59 pm

    The Importance of Work-In-Progress Reporting   Join Zak Krauss and Brandon Manning as they explore the intricacies of estimating costs for construction businesses. Their main focus is the importance of work-in-progress (WIP) reporting. Any seasoned construction business owner will tell you that understanding project budgets and estimated cost of completion is crucial. It’s more than […]

Quick Links

Talk To An Expert

Services
Privacy Policy

Headquarters

4275 Executive Square
Suite 200 #1006
San Diego, CA 92037

(866) 306-1876

Locations We Serve:

We are a virtual company headquartered in San Diego, CA with employees across the USA.

We provide outsourced accounting services to clients in the western region and beyond.

Best Places Winner Logo 2022
How Your Day-To-Day Accounting May Be Killing Your ProfitabilityMessy papers showing How Your Day-To-Day Accounting May Be Killing Your ProfitabilityUTILIZATION RATES & BILLABLE HOURSAnalyzing Employee Utilization Rates to Drive Profitability for Professional...
Scroll to top

This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

AcceptDecline

Cookie and Privacy Settings



How we use cookies

We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.

Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.

Essential Website Cookies

These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.

Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.

We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.

We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.

Google Analytics Cookies

These cookies collect information that is used either in aggregate form to help us understand how our website is being used or how effective our marketing campaigns are, or to help us customize our website and application for you in order to enhance your experience.

If you do not want that we track your visit to our site you can disable tracking in your browser here:

Other external services

We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.

Google Webfont Settings:

Google Map Settings:

Google reCaptcha Settings:

Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:

Other cookies

The following cookies are also needed - You can choose if you want to allow them:

Accept settings