Manage the month-end close process with task sequencing, dependencies, and status tracking. Use when planning the close calendar, tracking close progress, identifying blockers, or sequencing close activities by day.
Instructions your experts follow when using this skill.
Packaging adaptation by AutoGPT, 2026-09-25. Original authorship and licence are retained. Changes are limited to the recorded name, metadata and file references; see ATTRIBUTION.md in this skill package.
Important: This skill assists with close management workflows but does not provide financial advice. All close activities should be reviewed by qualified financial professionals.
Month-end close checklist, task sequencing and dependencies, status tracking, and common close activities organized by day.
Tasks are organized by what must complete before the next task can begin:
LEVEL 1 (No dependencies — can start immediately at T+1):
├── Cash receipts/disbursements recording
├── Bank statement retrieval
├── Payroll processing/accrual
├── Fixed asset depreciation run
├── Prepaid amortization
├── AP accrual preparation
└── Intercompany transaction posting
LEVEL 2 (Depends on Level 1 completion):
├── Bank reconciliation (needs: cash entries + bank statement)
├── Revenue recognition (needs: billing/delivery data finalized)
├── AR subledger reconciliation (needs: all revenue/cash entries)
├── AP subledger reconciliation (needs: all AP entries/accruals)
├── FX revaluation (needs: all foreign currency entries posted)
└── Remaining accrual JEs (needs: review of all source data)
LEVEL 3 (Depends on Level 2 completion):
├── All balance sheet reconciliations (needs: all JEs posted)
├── Intercompany reconciliation (needs: both sides posted)
├── Adjusting entries from reconciliations
└── Preliminary trial balance
LEVEL 4 (Depends on Level 3 completion):
├── Tax provision (needs: pre-tax income finalized)
├── Equity roll-forward
├── Consolidation and eliminations
├── Draft financial statements
└── Preliminary flux analysis
LEVEL 5 (Depends on Level 4 completion):
├── Management review
├── Final adjustments
├── Hard close / period lock
├── Financial reporting package
└── Forecast updates
The critical path determines the minimum close duration. Typical critical path:
Cash/AP/AR entries → Subledger reconciliations → Balance sheet recs →
Tax provision → Draft financials → Management review → Hard close
To shorten the close:
Track each close task with the following attributes:
| Task | Owner | Deadline | Status | Blocker | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| [Task name] | [Person/role] | [Day T+N] | Not Started / In Progress / Complete / Blocked | [If blocked, what's blocking] | [Any notes] |
During the close period, hold a brief (15-minute) daily standup:
| Metric | Definition | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Close duration | Business days from period end to hard close | Reduce over time |
| # of adjusting entries after soft close | Entries posted during management review | Minimize |
| # of late tasks | Tasks completed after their deadline | Zero |
| # of reconciliation exceptions | Reconciling items requiring investigation | Reduce over time |
| # of restatements / corrections | Errors found after close | Zero |
| Day | Key Activities | Responsible |
|---|---|---|
| T+1 | Cash entries, payroll, AP accruals, depreciation, prepaid amortization, intercompany posting | Staff accountants, payroll |
| T+2 | Revenue recognition, remaining accruals, subledger reconciliations (AR, AP, FA), FX revaluation | Revenue accountant, AP/AR, treasury |
| T+3 | Balance sheet reconciliations, intercompany reconciliation, eliminations, preliminary trial balance, preliminary flux | Accounting team, consolidation |
| T+4 | Tax provision, equity roll-forward, draft financial statements, detailed flux analysis, management review | Tax, controller, FP&A |
| T+5 | Final adjustments, hard close, period lock, reporting package distribution, forecast update, retrospective | Controller, FP&A, finance leadership |
For organizations targeting a faster close:
| Day | Key Activities |
|---|---|
| T+1 | All JEs posted (automated + manual), all subledger reconciliations, bank reconciliation, intercompany reconciliation, preliminary trial balance |
| T+2 | All balance sheet reconciliations, tax provision, consolidation, draft financial statements, flux analysis, management review |
| T+3 | Final adjustments, hard close, reporting package, forecast update |
Prerequisites for a 3-day close:
| Bottleneck | Root Cause | Solution |
|---|---|---|
| Late AP accruals | Waiting for department spend confirmation | Implement continuous accrual estimation; set cut-off deadlines |
| Manual journal entries | Recurring entries prepared manually each month | Automate standard recurring entries in the ERP |
| Slow reconciliations | Starting from scratch each month | Implement continuous/rolling reconciliation |
| Intercompany delays | Waiting for counterparty confirmation | Automate intercompany matching; set stricter deadlines |
| Management review changes | Large adjustments found during review | Improve preliminary review process; empower team to catch issues earlier |
| Missing supporting documents | Scrambling for documentation at close | Maintain documentation throughout the month |
After each close, ask:
Files installed alongside these instructions.
When the user wants to create or update their product marketing context document. Also use when the user mentions 'product context,' 'marketing context,' 'set up context,' 'positioning,' 'who is my target audience,' 'describe my product,' 'ICP,' 'ideal customer profile,' or wants to avoid repeating foundational information across marketing tasks. Use this at the start of any new project before using other marketing skills — it creates `.agents/product-marketing.md` that all other skills reference for product, audience, and positioning context.
When the user wants to research, profile, or analyze competitors from their URLs. Also use when the user mentions 'competitor profile,' 'competitor research,' 'competitor analysis,' 'profile this competitor,' 'analyze competitor,' 'competitive intelligence,' 'competitor deep dive,' 'who are my competitors,' 'competitor landscape,' 'competitor dossier,' 'competitive audit,' or 'research these competitors.' Input is a list of competitor URLs. Output is structured competitor profile markdown files. For creating comparison/alternative pages from profiles, see competitors. For sales-specific battle cards, see sales-enablement.
When the user wants to conduct, analyze, or synthesize customer research. Use when the user mentions "customer research," "ICP research," "talk to customers," "analyze transcripts," "customer interviews," "survey analysis," "support ticket analysis," "voice of customer," "VOC," "build personas," "customer personas," "jobs to be done," "JTBD," "what do customers say," "what are customers struggling with," "Reddit mining," "G2 reviews," "review mining," "digital watering holes," "community research," "forum research," "competitor reviews," "customer sentiment," "PMF survey," "product/market fit survey," "customer interview questions," "interview outreach," "Sales Safari," or "find out why customers churn/convert/buy." Use for analyzing existing research assets, mining online sources, AND running primary research (interviews and surveys). For writing copy informed by research, see copywriting. For acting on research to improve pages, see cro.