Year End Close Checklist: What to Finish Before December 31

The year end close goes faster when most of it is finished before the year ends.

December carries more than a normal month. There are more adjustments, more review, and people outside the company waiting on the numbers: your tax preparer, your auditor if you have one, your board, your lenders. Every task you finish in November is one less task competing for attention in January.

Here is what to do now, what to do in December, and how to plan the final close.

Why start in November

A normal month end close is mostly routine. The year end close adds work that only happens once a year: physical inventory counts, contractor tax forms, a fresh look at every balance sheet account, and adjustments your tax preparer or auditor will ask about.

If that work starts on January 2, it collides with the December close itself, with holiday schedules, and with the January 31 deadline for contractor and employee tax forms. Starting in November spreads the load and surfaces problems while there is still time to fix them.

Six things to finish before December 31

1. Reconcile every balance sheet account through October

Start with the accounts that should tie to an outside statement:

• Bank accounts
• Credit cards
• Loans and lines of credit
• Clearing accounts, such as the ones used for Stripe, Shopify, or payroll

Each one should match its statement at the end of October, with any differences explained. A difference found in November takes an hour to trace. The same difference found in late January, mixed with two more months of activity, takes much longer.

2. Clear old open items

Old items make the balance sheet harder to trust. Work through:

• Aged receivables. Follow up on old invoices. If an amount will not be collected, decide with leadership whether to write it off or reserve for it.
• Unpaid bills. Confirm old open bills are real. Some will be duplicates or bills already paid another way.
• Uncategorized transactions. Anything sitting in an "ask my accountant" or suspense account should be resolved.