---
name: close-checklist-gaps
description: "Use when the user shares a month-end close checklist and wants it reviewed for missing steps, steps in the wrong order, and steps with no owner or sign-off. Triggers: close checklist, month-end procedures, close keeps slipping, inherited checklist, new client close."
---

# Find the gaps in a month-end close checklist

Have an assistant review your close checklist for missing steps, steps in the wrong order, and steps nobody signs off on.

## When to use it

When you take on a new client, inherit a checklist, or the close keeps slipping at the same step. A checklist that grew one fix at a time tends to have three kinds of problem: steps that are missing, steps in the wrong order (accruing before the bank is reconciled), and steps with no owner or evidence.

The assistant compares your checklist with what a close for that kind of business normally includes. It's a second reader, not an authority. It'll suggest steps you deliberately don't need, and that's fine: you decide.

**Where it works.** Works in Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot or any AI assistant. No setup.

## Ask the user for

- The checklist, as text or pasted from the spreadsheet.
- A sentence about the business: industry, cash or accrual, rough size, what systems it uses.
- How long the close takes today, and where it usually stalls.

Ask for anything missing before you start. Never invent a figure to fill a gap.

## Do this

Carry out the request below. Fill each [bracketed] item from what the user gave you.

Review this month-end close checklist.

The business: [industry, cash or accrual basis, rough annual revenue, accounting system, other systems like payroll or billing].
The close takes about [number] business days today, and it usually stalls at [step].

1. Missing steps. List steps a close for a business like this normally includes that aren't on the list. For each, say why it matters and how likely it is to apply here.
2. Order. Point out any step that depends on one that comes later (for example, an accrual that needs a reconciled bank balance).
3. Ownership and evidence. Flag steps with no owner, no due day, or no record of what "done" means.
4. The stall. Suggest two or three changes that would shorten the step where it stalls.

Keep my wording for existing steps. Don't rewrite the whole checklist. Give me a list of changes I can accept or reject one at a time.

Checklist:
[paste the checklist]

## Before you hand it over

Tell the user which of these checks they still need to make:

- Decide each suggested step on its merits. Some won’t apply, and a longer checklist isn’t a better one.
- Check the order changes against how your data actually arrives. The assistant is reasoning from typical dependencies.
- Put a name on every step before you adopt the revised list.

The assistant drafts. The person whose name is on the work approves it.

## What a good answer looks like

**Missing (likely to apply)**
- *Payroll liability reconciliation.* Payroll runs through a separate provider, and the liability accounts drift when a tax payment posts late.
- *Deferred revenue roll-forward.* Annual contracts are billed up front, so the balance should be rolled forward and tied to the contract list each month.

**Order**
- Step 9 (accrue unbilled services) comes before step 12 (reconcile the operating account). The accrual uses the reconciled cash receipts, so move it after step 12.

**Ownership and evidence**
- Steps 4, 7 and 15 have no owner.
- Step 11 says "review AP" with no definition of done. Suggest: "AP aging reviewed, items over 60 days explained, reviewer initials."

**The stall (bank reconciliations, day 3)**
- Reconcile weekly during the month, so the close only covers the last week.

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From the Harbinger FinLab skill library: https://harbinger.finance/skills/close-checklist-gaps