How to close the month in two days

A fast close isn’t about working harder in the first week of the month. It’s about doing small amounts of work continuously so there’s very little left to do when the month ends. Teams that close in two days don’t have better spreadsheets. They have fewer of them.

Why speed matters

A slow close means decisions are made on old numbers. If it takes three weeks to know what happened in March, April is already half over before anyone can act on it. A fast close gives leadership a clear picture while it’s still useful, and frees the finance team for work that actually moves the business forward.

Before the month ends

Capture receipts at the moment of purchase

Chasing receipts is the single biggest source of delay in most closes. Require receipts within a few days of a transaction, send automatic reminders and lock cards for people who fall too far behind. When receipts arrive continuously, month end has nothing to chase.

Categorise as transactions happen

Set up rules that assign categories, departments and tax codes automatically based on merchant, card and amount. Review the exceptions weekly. By the end of the month, ninety percent of transactions should already be coded.

Reconcile weekly

Match bank and card activity to your ledger every week. Small discrepancies are easy to fix when they’re fresh. The same discrepancies are much harder after four weeks of activity has piled on top of them.

Day one

• Confirm all bank, card and payout accounts are fully reconciled.

• Review and post accruals for expenses incurred but not yet billed.

• Record prepaid expenses and deferred revenue adjustments.

• Run a variance check against last month and the budget, and investigate anything unusual.

Day two

• Close intercompany balances and FX revaluations if you have them.

• Review the balance sheet line by line, with a named owner for every account.

• Produce the management pack: P&L, balance sheet, cash flow and key metrics.

• Lock the period so no one can post into it by accident.

Common blockers and how to remove them

1. Missing invoices. Ask vendors to send invoices to a single inbox that feeds your bill pay tool.

2. Manual journal entries. Recurring entries such as depreciation and rent can be scheduled in advance.

3. Too many approvers. Limit sign-off to the people who genuinely need to review the numbers.

4. Unclear ownership. Every account on the balance sheet should have one owner, not a team.

“We didn’t speed up the close by rushing. We moved most of the work into the month, so the close itself became a review.”

Saro keeps your ledger current throughout the month. Receipts are matched automatically, transactions are coded by rules and every account reconciles in real time, which is why many Saro customers now close in two days or less.