Monthly Accounting and Reporting
Management information that arrives six weeks after month end informs nothing. By then the decisions have been made on instinct and the numbers merely confirm or contradict them. A monthly close that runs to a calendar changes what finance is for: the pack arrives while it can still influence something, and the conversation shifts from what happened to what to do.
1
Process
Capture and code
2
Reconcile
Prove the balances
3
Review
Challenge the numbers
4
Report
Pack to the calendar
5
Discuss
A meeting, not a file
How the Month Runs
01
Transaction Processing
Capture and coding to a chart of accounts that supports the reporting you actually need. A chart designed for the tax return produces statements nobody can manage a business from.
- Purchases, sales, cash and journals processed
- Coding to a chart designed for management reporting
- Supplier and customer records maintained
- Processing deadlines agreed and held to
02
Reconciliations
Every balance sheet account reconciled monthly, not annually. Balance sheet accounts left unreconciled are where errors hide, and they surface at year end when correcting them is most expensive.
- Bank reconciliations completed monthly
- Debtor and creditor control accounts agreed to sub ledgers
- Balance sheet accounts reconciled and evidenced
- Reconciling items followed up rather than carried forward
03
Review and Analysis
A second pair of eyes before anything is issued. We compare against budget and prior period and interrogate what moved, so the pack arrives with the obvious questions already answered.
- Comparison against budget and prior period
- Variances investigated before issue
- Accruals and prepayments assessed for completeness
- Unusual items flagged with an explanation
04
Management Pack
A pack built around the decisions you make rather than a standard template. Most clients need fewer pages than they think and different ones from those they currently receive.
- Income statement, balance sheet and cash flow
- Variance commentary rather than variance tables alone
- Key operational measures alongside the financials
- Delivered on the agreed date every month
05
Review Meeting
The pack is discussed rather than emailed. Numbers explained in person surface issues that a document never does, and it keeps finance connected to what is actually happening in the business.
- Monthly meeting with management
- Explanation of variances and their causes
- Agreed actions arising from the numbers
- Reporting refined as your needs change
What You Receive
- Processed and reconciled accounting records
- Monthly reconciliation file for every balance sheet account
- Management pack delivered on the agreed date
- Variance commentary explaining what moved and why
- Monthly review meeting with management
- Records maintained audit ready throughout the year
Indicative Timeline
A close calendar is agreed at the outset and held to. Most clients settle on a pack delivered between the tenth and fifteenth working day, and the constraint is usually how quickly source documents reach us.
- Transition and takeover: two to four weeks
- Document cut off: agreed date each month
- Processing and reconciliation: five to eight working days
- Pack delivery and review meeting: to the agreed date
What the Close Covers
A defined monthly cycle with agreed deliverables and dates, rather than work that happens when there is time.
Processing
Capture, coding and journals to an agreed cut off each month.
Reconciliations
Every balance sheet account, monthly, with reconciling items actually cleared.
Accruals
Cut off applied properly so the month reflects the period rather than the payment date.
Management Pack
Statements plus commentary, delivered on a fixed date you can plan around.
VAT and Payroll
Statutory submissions prepared and filed within the monthly cycle.
Review Meeting
A discussion of the numbers, which is where most of the value actually lands.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do we still need someone in house?
Often not for processing, though somebody internal still has to approve payments and answer operational questions. Many clients keep a part time administrator for document flow and outsource everything from processing upward.
Which accounting system do you work on?
Yours, in most cases. We work on established cloud and desktop packages and would rather use the system your team already knows than force a migration that adds risk without adding value.
How quickly can we get monthly figures?
Between the tenth and fifteenth working day is realistic and sustainable. Faster is achievable where document flow is disciplined. Anything promising a two day close on a business with paper invoices is not being straight with you.
What if our records are behind?
Common, and it is a separate catch up exercise scoped and quoted before the monthly service begins. Starting a monthly cycle on top of two years of unprocessed records does not work and we would not propose it.
Will this make our audit easier?
Materially. Most audit delay comes from reconciliations never performed and documents that cannot be found. Records maintained monthly and reconciled as they go produce an audit file that already exists when the auditors arrive.
Can you also handle tax and payroll?
Yes, and integrating them into the same monthly cycle avoids the usual problem of VAT and payroll being reconciled separately, then disagreeing with the ledger at year end.
Related Services
This sits inside our Financial and Management Accounting practice. Related work: Taxation for the statutory submissions in the same cycle, and Automated Reporting and Analytics where the pack should build itself.
