March Month Open
Accountants close out the month. But I want to open the month.
I don’t think most of my followers here are accountants (shout it out if I’m wrong!). I’m still taking a moment to work through a Month Open instead of a Month Close.
For my non-accounting buddies, every month, your books (bookkeeping, accounting, etc) should go through a closing process. While the specifics of this process will vary from business to business, bookkeeper to bookkeeper, controller to controller, CFO to CFO, business owner to business owner (and more - there’s a human element involved), the general gist of the process is the same:
Reconcile all bank and credit card accounts
Review all balance sheet accounts for accuracy and tie them to a statement or report. If they can’t be tied, explain the differences.
Review the Profit & Loss for consistency and any transactions that need to be recategorized.
Review Accounts Receivable (open, unpaid invoices) and Accounts Payable (open, unpaid bills) and take appropriate action.
Review and compare the previous month to budgets and/or projections
Adjust planning and budgets and projections for changes, needs, and expectations.
Those last two points are where we start to see the analysis from the accounting be really advantageous. Without reviewing what happened, we can’t go forward with intention and purpose. And as much as I’m a fan (guilty of?) throwing spaghetti at the wall and hoping it works (hello to this newsletter!), the intentional steps that can be made by looking at last month are just as important.
What is my month open process, you ask!?
I’m sure it comes as no surprise that some of this is some spaghetti at the wall. It always is. As I open up March, I will or already have:
Note[d] internal due dates of projects so I can meet those dates (or at least not watch them go whirring by quite so often)
Review[ed] projects that are less and less likely to be confirmed
Review[ed] the offboarding process for those clients who are not returning by inaction
Making note of things that worked in getting information in this year, so I can keep doing more of that next year
Making note of things that didn’t work in getting information in this year, so I can do less of it next year
Adding, “check for email connection in ClickUp,” to my month close checklist. No, this doesn’t have anything to do directly with my own bookkeeping. But! It does have much to do with something that, if I do it every month, I’ll get in front of a potential fail point.
Have you opened up your month yet? What are you bringing forward? What are you leaving behind?