CaretStartup month-end close checklist for teams with no finance hire
It's the third of the month. Your accountant has emailed asking for "the usual" by Friday. The bank export is in one tab, the card statement in another, and the payments dashboard shows a payout total that doesn't match either. Someone on the team asks how many months of runway you have. You say "about fourteen" and hope nobody asks how you know.
At a startup with no finance person, the month-end close is whatever the founder or the ops person can get done in an evening. It gets skipped in busy months. Then at fundraising time, or tax time, someone spends a week rebuilding six months of books from statements.
A close doesn't have to be big. It has to happen every month, in the same order, with each step owned by a named person. Here's the checklist.
This is a working checklist, not accounting or tax advice. Your accountant decides how things get booked.
The close, in five passes
Do the passes in order. Each one depends on the one before: you can't match revenue until cash is reconciled.
| Pass | What you do | Inputs | Done when | Typical owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Collect | Download every statement and export for the month | Bank, cards, payments processor, payroll, expense tool | Every file is in one dated folder | Ops or founder |
| 2. Reconcile cash | Match the bank statement's closing balance to your books | Bank statement, books | Difference is zero, or each gap has a note | Ops or founder |
| 3. Match revenue | Tie payouts to invoices and charges; list failed payments | Payments export, invoices, bank deposits | Every deposit maps to charges; failed list exists | Founder |
| 4. Review spend | Categorise card and bank spend; flag receipts missing | Card statement, receipts | Every line has a category; missing list is sent | Ops |
| 5. Report | Update runway; package files for the accountant | Passes 1-4 | Runway sheet updated, package sent | Founder |
The checklist
Copy this into wherever your team tracks work. Tick it every month.
Pass 1: Collect (days 1-2)
- Bank statements for every account, as PDF and CSV
- Card statements for every company card
- Payments processor: charges, refunds, fees and payouts for the month
- Payroll summary and any contractor invoices
- Expense tool export, if you use one
- Everything saved in one folder named for the month
Pass 2: Reconcile cash (day 2)
- Closing balance in the books equals the bank statement, per account
- Transfers between your own accounts appear on both sides
- Any gap has a one-line note: what, how much, who's checking
Pass 3: Match revenue (day 3)
- Each payout in the bank maps to a group of charges, minus fees and refunds
- Invoices sent this month: paid, unpaid, overdue
- Failed payments listed with customer, amount and reason
- Decide which failed payments to chase, and draft the emails
Pass 4: Review spend (days 3-4)
- Every card and bank line has a category
- Missing receipts listed and sent to whoever made the purchase
- Subscriptions checked: anything new, anything nobody uses
- Bills due next month listed with dates
Pass 5: Report (day 5)
- Cash at month end, monthly burn, and runway in months, with the formula visible
- Three lines on what changed versus last month
- One package to the accountant: the folder, the reconciliation notes, open questions
An example close, step by step
The numbers below are made up for a five-person startup.
The ask on day 2: "Put this month's bank and card exports in one sheet. Reconcile against the books and flag anything that doesn't line up."
What came back: a sheet with three tabs. The bank tab matched to the cent. The card tab had 84 lines, 79 categorised from last month's patterns and 5 flagged as new merchants. The revenue tab showed payouts of $41,200 against charges of $43,050. The gap broke down as $1,390 in processor fees, $460 in refunds, and nothing left over.
It also listed four failed payments totalling $1,180, with a draft email for each.
What the founder changed:
- Recategorised two of the five new merchants. One was a conference ticket, not software.
- Removed one failed payment from the chase list. That customer had already said they were leaving.
- Asked for runway to use a three-month average burn instead of last month's alone, because last month had an annual software renewal in it.
What got approved: three dunning emails, after the founder read them, and the package to the accountant. A vendor bill due on the 10th was prepared but not paid. Paying waits for a yes like everything else that moves money.
Then the numbers got added up one more time before anything left the building. Fees plus refunds: $1,390 + $460 = $1,850, the exact gap between $43,050 and $41,200.
| Revenue tab | Amount | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Charges | $43,050 | Payments processor export |
| Processor fees | -$1,390 | Deducted before payout |
| Refunds | -$460 | Issued this month |
| Expected payouts | $41,200 | Charges minus fees and refunds |
| Payouts in bank | $41,200 | Bank statement deposits |
| Gap | $0 | Nothing left over |
| Failed payments | $1,180 | 4 payments, draft email for each |
How to set it up in Caret
- Sign up at app.caretbot.com. Team starts with a 7-day trial.
- Create a finance bot. Write its job in plain words: "prep the month-end close in five passes, flag what doesn't match, never pay or send anything without approval".
- Connect only the apps it needs through connected apps, or drop the exports into the thread.
- Add it to a finance thread, which is bridged to Slack both ways if you work there. Give it a schedule, for example "2nd of the month, 09:00", to start pass 1.
- Ask it to build the close sheet as an Excel file with live formulas and attach it in the thread.
- Approve or deny when it asks to send a dunning email or pay a bill. An admin answers with one click, and there's an audit trail of what the bot did.
- After the first clean close, ask it to save the steps as a skill so next month runs from the same procedure.
Example asks:
- "put this month's bank and card exports in one sheet and flag anything that doesn't line up"
- "list this month's failed payments and draft a short, friendly email for each one. don't send"
- "update the runway sheet with october's numbers using a three-month average burn, and tell me what changed"
FAQ
What is a month-end close for a startup? It's the routine of making the month's books match reality: every bank and card line accounted for, revenue tied to deposits, spend categorised, and a runway number you trust. For a small startup it's a few hours a month if you do it every month.
How long should a startup month-end close take? With a checklist and a fixed order, a small startup can usually close in a few working days, a few hours total. The first close takes longer because you're building the template. Skipped months are what make it slow.
Can I automate the month-end close? You can automate most of the collecting and matching: pulling exports, reconciling balances, mapping payouts to charges, flagging gaps. Keep a person on the judgment calls and on anything that sends money or messages. Your accountant still books the entries.
For more on how a bot fits into a finance week, see what Caret does for finance. Put a bot on it: start your 7-day trial or download the Mac app.