# Month End And Year End Close Playbook

> Controlled month-end and year-end close workflow for any Chwezi-grade finance / accounting system. Covers task list, dependencies, evidence requirements, exception handling, reviewer sign-off, period-state transitions, retained-earnings close, lock and reopen governance, and release states. Use whenever a software system, SRS, SDS, test plan, proposal, or business plan touches month-end close, year-end close, period locking, or audit-period release.

- Skill: `peterbamuhigire/month-end-and-year-end-close-playbook` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 4 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add peterbamuhigire/month-end-and-year-end-close-playbook`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/peterbamuhigire/month-end-and-year-end-close-playbook/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Security
- Author: peterbamuhigire (https://skillmd.com/u/peterbamuhigire)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/peterbamuhigire/month-end-and-year-end-close-playbook

---


# Month-End and Year-End Close Playbook

## Overview

Close is a controlled workflow, not a calendar reminder. Each close task has owner, due date, dependency, evidence, review state, exception state, and release decision. Close ends with a documented release state: `pass`, `pass-with-caveats`, or `fail`. Year-end close adds retained-earnings close, lock-period procedure, reopen governance, audit-request tracking, and a final report freeze.

## Required first reads

- `doctrine/accounting-finance-doctrine.md`
- `doctrine/references/ledger-invariants.md` (period state)
- `doctrine/references/required-patterns.md`
- `doctrine/examples/reconciliation-evidence-pack.md`
- `bank-and-mobile-money-reconciliation` SKILL
- `audit-ready-reporting-pack` SKILL
- This skill's `references/close-task-template.md`.

## Close task list (standard)

Grouped by area. The exact list is configurable per entity; the categories are not.

### Pre-close

| Task | Owner | Dependency |
|---|---|---|
| Cut-off review for sales and purchases. | Accountant | None |
| Open-items review (AR ageing, AP ageing). | Accountant | None |
| Goods received not invoiced (GRNI) clear. | Accountant + Inventory Manager | Receiving complete |
| Outstanding journals approved. | Controller | Manual-journal queue |

### Subledger close

| Task | Owner |
|---|---|
| AR — invoices, receipts, credit notes posted. | Accountant |
| AP — bills, payments, credit notes posted. | Accountant |
| Inventory — receipts, issues, transfers, adjustments posted; count variance reviewed. | Inventory Manager + Accountant |
| Fixed Assets — additions, disposals, depreciation run. | Accountant |
| Payroll — payroll run committed; statutory deductions schedules complete. | Payroll Officer + Accountant |

### Reconciliations

| Task | Owner |
|---|---|
| Bank — every bank account reconciled with evidence pack. | Accountant |
| Mobile Money — every provider account reconciled. | Accountant |
| POS — every drawer's Z-reports reconciled. | Accountant |
| Card Acquirer — every acquirer batch reconciled. | Accountant |
| Inventory tie-out — control accounts vs subledger. | Accountant |
| AR / AP control tie-out. | Accountant |
| Tax control accounts tie to return data. | Accountant + Tax Reviewer |
| Petty cash count. | Accountant |
| Cash on Hand count. | Accountant |

### Adjustments

| Task | Owner |
|---|---|
| Accruals and prepayments. | Accountant |
| Depreciation. | Accountant |
| FX revaluation. | Accountant |
| Inventory NRV write-downs (Section 13 / IAS 2). | Accountant + Controller |
| Provisions and contingencies review (Section 21 / IAS 37). | Controller |
| Doubtful-debt allowance (Section 11 / IFRS 9 simplified). | Accountant + Controller |
| Tax provision (Section 29 / IAS 12). | Controller + Tax Reviewer |

### Reports

| Task | Owner |
|---|---|
| Trial balance. | Accountant |
| SFP / SOCI / SCE / SCF. | Controller |
| AR / AP ageing. | Accountant |
| Inventory valuation. | Inventory Manager + Accountant |
| Fixed-asset register and depreciation schedule. | Accountant |
| Payroll register vs GL. | Payroll Officer + Accountant |
| Tax pack (VAT, PAYE, WHT, NSSF, income tax progress). | Tax Reviewer + Accountant |
| Bank, POS, mobile-money, card recon evidence packs. | Accountant |
| Management accounts pack with variance commentary. | Controller |
| Donor / grant utilisation pack (where applicable). | Controller |
| Audit-ready export index. | Controller |

### Release

| Task | Owner |
|---|---|
| Reviewer sign-off (Controller). | Controller |
| Period soft-close. | Controller |
| Release state recorded. | Controller |
| Lock period (after waiting window). | Controller |

## Year-end specifics

- Retained-earnings close: close all 4xxx–9xxx accounts into 3300 Current-Year Profit/Loss; sweep 3300 to 3200 Retained Earnings at year-end.
- Lock-period procedure: after sign-off and audit window, lock all months of the financial year.
- Reopen governance: reopen requires Controller + CFO approval, time-boxed, audit-logged.
- Audit-request tracking: every auditor request logged with respondent, evidence, status, due date.
- Final report freeze: financial statements signed by directors; subsequent corrections become prior-period adjustments under Section 10 / IAS 8.

## Period-state transitions

| From | To | Permitted by |
|---|---|---|
| `open` | `soft-closed` | Controller |
| `soft-closed` | `open` | Controller (with reason) |
| `soft-closed` | `locked` | Controller |
| `locked` | `reopened` | Controller + CFO |
| `reopened` | `locked` | Controller |
| `locked` | `archived` | Controller (after audit window) |

## Release states

- `pass` — no blockers; all checks complete; all reconciliations matched; reviewer sign-off recorded.
- `pass-with-caveats` — no blockers; named items carry forward (e.g. tax provision pending tax-reviewer sign-off) with assigned owner and target date.
- `fail` — blocker(s) remain; close not released.

## Control-preserving Kaizen for close

After each close, review elapsed time, late tasks, repeat exceptions, manual journals, unreconciled items, rework, evidence defects, and reviewer queries. Classify each finding as waste, data-quality failure, control deficiency, training gap, or accounting judgement. Select one small reversible improvement with a baseline, hypothesis, owner, timebox, guardrail, expected evidence, and rollback.

The guardrail must preserve double-entry, cut-off, period state, immutable audit trail, reviewer independence, segregation of duties, source-document traceability, tax/statutory verification, and report tie-outs. Re-perform the close, test a failure path, obtain independent review, and compare the result with the baseline before standardising the change in the close task template, runbook, training, and test fixture. Report the audit at `min(raw score, 65)` and make the remediation plan target 95/100; the cap never waives a close blocker.

Facility-change logic applies to ERP or close-process transitions: readiness evidence, continuity/fallback, cutover/rollback, stabilisation, reconciliation, and lessons-learned sign-off are required before the new close becomes standard.

## Acceptance evidence

| Evidence | Description |
|---|---|
| Close-task register | Every task with owner, due, status, evidence path. |
| Reconciliation evidence packs | Per `bank-and-mobile-money-reconciliation`. |
| Adjustment journal listing | All accruals, depreciation, FX revaluation, provisions, write-downs. |
| Subledger tie-out summary | Control account vs subledger reconciliation by account. |
| Reports pack | All reports per "Reports" task list, with print stylesheet applied. |
| Reviewer sign-off | In the audit log: preparer, reviewer, time stamps. |
| Gate manifest | State, blockers, caveats, evidence-pack path. |

## Forbidden patterns

- Closing a period without subledger tie-out.
- Posting to a locked period via a back door.
- Sign-off without reviewer identity in the audit log.
- Close report missing a print stylesheet.
- Reopen without Controller + CFO approval.

## Files

- `SKILL.md`.
- `references/close-task-template.md` — full task template with owners and dependencies.
- `references/year-end-extras.md` — retained-earnings close, lock window, audit requests.
- `examples/first-close-checklist.md` — first close after go-live.

Last reviewed: 2026-05-12. Next review due: 2026-11-12.

## Prerequisites

- Load `doctrine/accounting-finance-doctrine.md` before applying this skill.
- Load `governance/finance-accounting-quality-gate.md` when the output is a release, client artefact, SRS, SDS, proposal, business plan, or implementation plan.
- Use `doctrine/source-register/` for final statutory, tax, payroll, FX, EFRIS, eTIMS, or authority-template values.

## Inputs

| Artifact | Produced by | Required? | Validation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Finance context map | `finance-module-audit` | Required | Entity, framework, jurisdiction, modules, users, and deployment context are named. |
| Doctrine baseline | Doctrine owner | Required | Doctrine version and reporting framework are stated. |
| Source-register snapshot | `tax-statutory-source-register-and-country-packs` | Required for final statutory output | Entries are `verified-current` or reviewer-approved `verified-with-caveat`. |
| Ledger/posting context | `ledger-posting-engine-core` | Required when postings are affected | Posting boundary, CoA mappings, control accounts, dimensions, and period state are known. |

## Outputs

| Artifact | Consumed by | Acceptance evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Skill-specific decision record | Implementer, reviewer, quality gate | Scope, assumptions, chosen treatment, rejected alternatives, and caveats are recorded. |
| Implementation or workflow contract | Software, SRS, SDS, proposal, or business-plan engine | Contract names inputs, outputs, controls, evidence, and failure conditions. |
| Acceptance evidence | Finance quality gate | Tests, fixtures, examples, source links, reviewer sign-off, or evidence-pack references are present. |
| Plain-language explanation | Client, owner, manager, operator | Business meaning is stated before technical accounting treatment where client-facing. |

## Decision Rules

- Prefer IFRS for SMEs for typical SME entities unless full IFRS, local law, donor requirements, or client policy requires otherwise.
- Treat every money-touching workflow as ledger, control, reconciliation, evidence, and reporting scope.
- Do not finalize statutory values without source-register support and reviewer status.
- Use business-language output for operators and accountant-language output for ledger, reporting, and audit users.
- Escalate uncertain framework, tax, or statutory interpretations to the required reviewer role instead of presenting them as final.

## Acceptance Evidence

- Inputs and outputs above are present or explicitly marked not applicable.
- Relevant quality-gate blockers have been checked and no blocker remains unresolved.
- Examples or fixtures cover at least one happy path and one failure or caveat path for this skill's domain.
- Reviewer role, review date, and open caveats are recorded for release-grade artefacts.

## Anti-Patterns

- Treating draft planning assumptions as final statutory or accounting facts.
- Hiding tax, payroll, FX, or authority-template caveats in prose instead of source-register state.
- Producing technically correct accounting output without a plain-language layer for non-accountant users.
- Closing a remediation or implementation item without observable evidence.

## Required References

- `doctrine/accounting-finance-doctrine.md`.
- `governance/finance-accounting-quality-gate.md`.
- `docs/reference-manifest.md` for declared reference states.
- Domain-specific references listed earlier in this skill.

## Examples

- Include at least one normal workflow example for this skill's domain.
- Include at least one exception, rejection, reversal, stale-source, or reviewer-caveat example where the domain can fail.

## Review Metadata

Last reviewed: 2026-05-15. Next review due: 2026-11-15.