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Monthly Close

  • 1.  Monthly Close

    Posted 23 days ago

    On average, how many business days does your accounting team require to complete the monthly close?



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    Sharon Hewitt Watkins
    Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
    Barnard College
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  • 2.  RE: Monthly Close

    Posted 22 days ago

    We normally close the month after 1 business day, except for year-end.  We usually need to have the monthly financial statements to the Board by the end of the 5th business day so that they can be incorporated into the documents for the monthly Board meeting.  Depending on how the calendar falls each month, we may get a 2nd business day to complete entries.  The other 4 days before the due date are creating the financial statements, reviewing with the CFO and producing the additional reports and narrative that accompany the financial statements.



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    Megan Garrett
    Controller
    Lansing Community College
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    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Monthly Close

    Posted 21 days ago

    I am interested to know what steps are included in the close you referenced.  I found that coming from private industry our "close" is very different than in higher education.



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    Diana Harley
    Interim Vice President for Finance & Administration
    Southeast Missouri State University
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Monthly Close

    Posted 20 days ago
    Edited by Kim Decker 20 days ago

    I am interested to know how everyone closes their month so quickly.  Coming from private i find everyone has to get their chargeback reports from departments to post.  Investments team has to wait for their statements to post transactions in the month they occurred instead of posting in the next month.  The GL team has to wait for their bank statements to reconcile their recons and must post all transactions in the month they occurred instead of the next month as a reconciling item.  Additionally, our Pcard team closes on the 30th of each month and has to get their transactions in the month the transactions occurred as well.  The AP team waits to post expense transactions that were drafted from our bank until the end of the month. How do we get teams to promote a month lag so we can close our month in 5 business days.  We are unable to close a monthly accounting period until 30 after the end of each month and sometimes that is tough.  



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    Kim Decker
    Assistant comptroller
    University of the Incarnate Word
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    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Monthly Close

    Posted 20 days ago

    Our close is a soft close only.  Accruals only happen at the end of the year, and it takes about 30-45 days to fully close the year.



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    Julia Kaufmann
    Manager II, Accounting
    College of Western Idaho
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    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: Monthly Close

    Posted 17 days ago

    Here are some of the practices we have implemented to be able to close the month in 1 -2 business days.

    1. We post chargebacks a month behind, except for year-end.  We have the prior month's chargebacks posted by the 25th of the month.  Any large monthly chargeback, for example phone chargebacks, we post an accrual for the current month based on a 3 month average.  
    2. We are able to pull our investment statements and/or interest confirms online on the 1st business day of the month.  Any transfers in or out are booked during the month when they occur.  We have access to view daily activity in all investment accounts.
    3. We have online access to all of our banking accounts and daily activity reports are run daily and entries are made during the month.  This includes booking online credit card transactions, ACH/wire activity in and out, and all payments going out.  On the 1st business day of the month, we are only processing prior day activity and any interest.
    4. We utilize the Concur expense reporting system for all employee reimbursements for business expenses, this includes reconciling their p-card transactions.  Our procedures is that P-card users must reconcile their p-card expenses within 10 business days of the charge through the Concur expense reporting system.  We have nightly feeds from Concur to our ERP system (we use Ellucian Banner) so that these expenses can post to the GL.
    5. Our Accounting and AP staff have deadlines throughout the month for daily banking entries, reclass entries needed from departments or reconciliation, chargebacks, monthly accruals, etc.  On the 1st of the month, we only have prior day entries, investment income,  and a few reclass and accruals that cannot be done until the final day of the month feeds from other modules and systems feed into the GL in the early morning hours on the 1st of the month.

    We have a very good staff that works together throughout the month to ensure all transactions are posted  entered, reviewed, approved and posted throughout the month.  We also utilize checklists of what needs to be done throughout the month to ensure nothing is missed.



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    Megan Garrett
    Controller
    Lansing Community College
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    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: Monthly Close

    Posted 20 days ago

     Our University is a 501(C)(3) corporation. We typically "close" by the 2nd week of the following month. It typically takes investment statements 5 business days to be received and recorded. Our University pays student payroll and hourly employees in arrears therefore, the related payroll for month end wouldn't be processed until the 15th of the following month. Our University records journal entries on a semi accrual basis (ie. we don't amortize revenue over the semester but rather record at the beginning of each semester, depreciation is booked at year end, ect.). I would imagine the close for each University would be driven based on the users of the financials as well as the Board expectations. 



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    Suzanne Rodriguez
    Controller
    St. Edward's University
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    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: Monthly Close

    Posted 20 days ago

    We close on the 5th business day, and report financials to the Board around the 10th business day.



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    Julia Kaufmann
    Manager II, Accounting
    College of Western Idaho
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    Original Message


  • 9.  RE: Monthly Close

    Posted 20 days ago

    I am not an expert, but our team usually closes the month, including certification by our state office, in about 5 business days. Certain accounting processes have a deadline around the 25th to be included in the given month. Our year-end close takes about 10-15 days. 



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    Matthew Beeman
    Data Analyst
    University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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    Original Message


  • 10.  RE: Monthly Close

    Posted 20 days ago

    It takes our team about three full weeks after month end to close.



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    Heather Zacker
    Director - Finance
    California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo
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    Original Message


  • 11.  RE: Monthly Close

    Posted 19 days ago

    Does anyone have a check list or timeline of what activities are done by what time period? We are working to try and streamline our close process and trying to develop something to keep everyone on the same page.



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    Lisa Briggs
    Controller
    Grinnell College
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    Original Message


  • 12.  RE: Monthly Close

    Posted 18 days ago

    We are private and we do more of a soft close most months of the year.  I'm working to do a more official type close for December to see clean Fall results by picking up material accruals and deferrals.  That worked well this year.  Our typically monthly soft close is 4 business days to get transactions in for AP, Payroll, and procurement.  Then we have more of a broad ledger close over 4 more business days (Inv, Pledges, Fixed Assets, etc.).  That wraps up the ledger and then financial reporting varies depending on needs, between 3-5 business days to get draft financials done and reviewed with our CFO before they are shared with governance.  YE is a different animal for sure. 



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    Geoffrey Ball
    Associate Vice President, Financial Management
    The University of Tampa
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    Original Message


  • 13.  RE: Monthly Close

    Posted 18 days ago

    For universities seeking to reduce the close process for monthly, quarterly, or annual close, it may be worth evaluating the tools you use.  I've found that many universities have a manual close process that is time-consuming and managed in excel spreadsheets.

    OneStream Software enables you to automate and streamline the time consuming tasks in the Close process. Based on our customers feedback, organizations moving from an excel-based process to OneStream experience an 83% improvement.  (Source: If you're interested in the full Value Realization report, I can share it directly with you.)

    Universities that only have an annual year-end close process, can leverage a tool like OneStream to start doing quarterly or monthly closes, too.  This drives better data for executives and boards and stronger confidence in the entire financial operations at the university.

    Learn more about Financial Close at this on-demand webinar: https://www.onestream.com/resources/pph-modernclose-replay-30oct2025/



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    Todd Weinstein
    Senior Account Director, Higher Ed
    OneStream Software LLC
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    Original Message


  • 14.  RE: Monthly Close

    Posted 16 days ago

    We close on Day 4 and pass the reports on to our CFO on Day 5. We used to take 5 days, but we shaved a day off about 2 years ago after we shifted from PeopleSoft financials to WorkDay HR/Finance. Our student systems are still in PeopleSoft (shifting to Anthology as of June this year). It's not a full close - we do still have investments booked one month in arrears since the full data is not available to us until after our deadline. That is caught up at year end which we keep open for up to 4 weeks after 6/30 to capture as many material expenses as possible.

    I am so impressed with the number of answers in the 1-2 day range! 



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    Christina Nowacki
    Assistant Controller
    National University
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    Original Message


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