Once all tasks on the checklist have been completed, the Finance Manager or CFO will do a detailed review:
Review all reconciliations (bank, petty cash, mobile money, AR, AP)
Review calculations for depreciation, amortization and prepaid expenses
Review and authorize all manual journal entries
Verify there are no unposted or draft journal entries
Once he/she is satisfied, he/she will ‘close the period’
This ensures no further journal entries can be posted to the period
Extremely important as closing locks in the values that have been reviewed in detail
Once the period is closed, month-end reporting commences