Month-End Close Control Workbook

Month-end close usually lives in a checklist plus the memory of one accountant. Tasks are late without anyone seeing it, a control account differs from its report, a bank reconciliation has stale items, and a large movement has no explanation until the auditor asks. This workbook turns the close into gates you can see: who owes what by which date, what does not tie, and what is still unexplained. Sign-off stays BLOCKED until every gate is closed.

What is inside

• Setup: period end, status date, weekend code and holiday list, flux thresholds, tie-out tolerance and your team names.
• Checklist: the standard task list with owner, working-day due date, status, completion date, days late and a flag. Due dates use WORKDAY.INTL with your own weekend code and holidays.
• TB: paste this month's and last month's closing trial balance (up to 150 accounts). Profit and loss accounts take a comparison movement.
• TieOuts: each control account against the balance from its sub-ledger or report, with a tolerance you set. Prepayment and accrual rows link themselves.
• Accruals and Prepayments: schedules with support flags, monthly charge, months expensed and remaining balance.
• BankRec: up to six bank accounts, bank-side and book-side reconciling items, stale-item flags and the difference to the ledger.
• Flux: every large movement is flagged and needs a written explanation of a minimum length, so 'ok' does not pass.
• SignOff and Dashboard (three native charts) and a Checks sheet. The example copy deliberately leaves a few items open so you can see the gates working.

How it is deeper than the cheaper close checklists (the Month-End Close Checklist Pack and the bookkeeping calendar): those list tasks to tick. This workbook checks the numbers behind the ticks, with tie-outs, reconciliations, flux gates and a sign-off that refuses to clear while anything is open.

Facts and settings: accounting treatment is yours. Prepayment months, thresholds and tolerances are settings, and the sign-off is a control aid, not an audit opinion. Check treatment with your accountant or auditor.

What it is NOT: it is a calculation tool, not accounting, tax or legal advice. It is not connected to your bank or accounting system, it is not an FTA-approved system and it is not an e-invoicing tool (e-invoicing is on the Zeyto roadmap only). Where a rule matters it is a setting you enter, with a note to confirm it with the FTA, your accountant or your auditor.

Two workbooks: an EXAMPLE copy filled with invented data so you can see every sheet working, and a BLANK copy with the same formulas ready for your own data. Formulas only: no macros, no volatile functions, no add-ins. Input cells are coloured, formula sheets are protected without a password, and a Checks sheet turns green only when every list ties out.

How it was checked: recalculated with an independent Python formula engine and 278 outputs (tie-outs, schedules, bank reconciliation, flux flags, gates, dashboard series) were compared with a separate Python model, with no difference. The due dates use WORKDAY.INTL, which the independent engine could not evaluate, so those dates were checked against an Excel-rule working-day loop in Python but not by the engine, and the checked copy used fixed due dates. There is no Excel or LibreOffice on the build machine, so it was not opened in them and the charts were not viewed on screen.

Limits: it posts nothing and does not connect to your accounting system, you paste figures in. Examples show a trading company, so rename tasks for your business.