Month-end close checklist for a small architecture firm
https://archon-partners.com/guides/month-end-close-architecture-firm/

From Archon & Partners. Use it as is, or adapt it. Ask your accountant which format and records they need. This is not legal or tax advice.

IN THE LAST WEEK OF THE MONTH
[ ] Ask everyone to drop each receipt into its project folder as it happens, and clear anything left over from earlier in the month.
[ ] Confirm the list of active projects and their project codes. Add new ones and retire finished ones, so every cost has somewhere to land.
[ ] If you track time, check that every timesheet is complete. Direct and indirect hours by person feed utilization (see the scorecard guide).

FIRST WORKING DAYS OF THE NEW MONTH
[ ] Download the month's statements for every bank and card account, as CSV where you can.
[ ] Add each statement line to the Receipts sheet, one row per line.
[ ] Match each line to a document: a receipt, a supplier invoice or a payroll record. Paste the link to the file in the row.
[ ] Tag each line with a project code, or OVERHEAD, and one category.
[ ] Mark costs you will pass on to a client as reimbursable, so they are billed and kept out of your own overhead.
[ ] List the exceptions: lines with no document, documents with no line, possible duplicates and amounts that look wrong.
[ ] Give every exception an owner and a date. Resolve it, or park it on the open-items list.

INVOICES AND PAYROLL
[ ] Check that every invoice you issued is in the invoice log with its due date, and every supplier invoice you received is recorded.
[ ] List the invoices still unpaid, with days overdue, and start the reminder schedule for any that need it.
[ ] Post payroll and payroll-related costs. Compare headcount with the timesheets.

REVIEW
[ ] Total spending by project and by category. Compare each project's spending with its budget.
[ ] If you use firm-level ratios (utilization, net multiplier, overhead rate), calculate them from the closed numbers.

HAND-OFF AND LOCK
[ ] Assemble one pack for your accountant: the summary sheet, the receipts folder, bank statements, the payroll report and the open-items list. Ask your accountant which format they want.
[ ] Read the pack yourself before it goes out. Nothing should reach your accountant unreviewed.
[ ] Lock the month's rows. Record any later correction as a new dated entry rather than editing the old one.