General standard operating procedures for financial closing at year-end

The process of closing the books for the year is just that, a process. It is an ongoing process. To efficiently close the books by the end of August, the books should be kept current and accurate. In other words, monthly reconciliations are a crucial part of the year-end close, because much less research and work will be required if errors, adjustments and routine items are reconciled monthly. It makes the year-end process much less time consuming.

This document should be a general guideline as every city will have different processes and general ledger accounts. This guide is simply a tool to facilitate the process and provide a systematic approach. The process must be repeated for every fund.

This guide also includes an accompanying “Fiscal Year-End Checklist for Closing and Annual Audit” spreadsheet linked below.