To prepare the month-end close without missing documents, start from the bank statement rather than from the pile of invoices. Every transaction on the statement should have a document that supports it, and the transactions left without one are precisely the list of what still needs to be requested. When that list is empty, the month is ready for the accountant.
In many small and medium-sized businesses, month-end happens the other way round. The accountant asks for the documents, the business sends whatever it can find and, days later, a question arrives about a payment nobody remembers. This article explains why documents go missing and how to organise month-end around the statement.
What is the month-end close for the accountant?
The month-end close is the set of tasks through which a business gathers, checks and hands over a month's financial information to its accountant. As a rule, it includes the statements for every bank account, purchase invoices and receipts, sales invoices and the supporting documents for any other payments and incoming funds.
The exact list depends on the business and on how its accounts are kept, so it should be agreed with the accountant. The goal does not change. Every euro that came into or left the organisation's accounts needs an explanation, and that explanation is almost always a document.
Why do documents go missing at the end of the month?
A missing document is rarely one person's oversight. Documents go missing because the process has several points of entry and no point of control.
- Several channels. Documents arrive by email, on paper, as PDFs downloaded from a portal or as photos taken on a phone.
- Several accounts and banks. Transactions are spread across different online banking services, and nobody looks at all of them together.
- Card payments. Travel, meals and online subscriptions are paid on the spot, and the invoice is never requested or stays in the inbox of whoever paid.
- One payment for several invoices. A single transfer settles three invoices from one supplier, and the statement shows one amount that matches none of them.
- Late checks. Nobody checks until the accountant asks, weeks later, when it is hard to work out what happened.
Why should month-end start with the bank statement?
The bank statement is the only complete list of what came into and went out of each account. The invoices a business has kept show only what someone remembered to keep. The most reliable method is therefore to go through the statement and look for the matching document for each transaction.
This matching is called bank reconciliation. To reconcile is to link each transaction on the statement to the document that supports it, whether an invoice, a receipt or another voucher. At the end, each situation tells you what to do.
| Situation | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Transaction with a document | The payment or incoming funds are supported | Nothing, it goes to the accountant |
| Transaction without a document | An invoice, a receipt or another voucher is missing | Request the document from the supplier or from whoever made the payment |
| Transaction that never has an invoice | Bank charges, transfers between the business's own accounts and similar items | Categorise it, so the accountant knows what it is |
| Document without a transaction | An invoice still to be paid or collected, or paid from another account | Check whether it is still open and which account paid it |
The second row of the table is the list of missing documents. If it is drawn up during the month, and not only at the end, each document is requested while the payment is still fresh in the mind of whoever made it.
How to prepare month-end, step by step
- Date and format agreed. The business agrees with the accountant on the day the month is handed over and on how, for example an organised folder or a single compressed file.
- Statements for every account. The statements for every account are gathered, including those with few transactions.
- Documents in one place. Invoices and receipts that arrived by email, on paper or as photos are kept together and named in the same way.
- Reconciliation. Each transaction on the statement is linked to its document. Payments covering several invoices and partial payments are linked to each invoice, with the corresponding amount.
- List of what is missing. The transactions without a document become the list of requests, to suppliers, to customers or to colleagues who paid by card.
- Categorisation. Transactions are assigned to categories, including those that never have an invoice, so the accountant does not have to guess.
- One complete hand-over. The month goes over complete, with documents identified by date, issuer and number, instead of arriving piecemeal by email.
Done by hand in a spreadsheet, this works with few accounts and few transactions. With several banks, dozens of suppliers and documents in different formats, manual reconciliation becomes slow and error-prone, and that is when a dedicated tool pays off.
How does EngiFinance help prepare month-end?
EngiFinance is an online treasury management application for small and medium-sized businesses. EngiFinance is currently available only in Portugal, in Portuguese, and its product page is in Portuguese. It imports the business's bank statements and documents, categorises and reconciles transactions, shows cash flow and what is still to be collected, and prepares the monthly export for the accountant.
- Statements. Each account's statement is imported from a file, in CSV, Excel, CAMT.053 or MT940, and PDF statements are read by artificial intelligence. The business does not give access to its bank accounts.
- Documents. Up to 200 files can be uploaded at a time, as PDF, PNG or JPG. The AT QR code on Portuguese invoices is read directly, and on documents without a QR code artificial intelligence reads the number, the dates, the tax numbers, the totals and the description.
- Reconciliation. Unambiguous matches are reconciled automatically, and the rest appear as suggestions based on amount, date and the tax number, document number or name in the bank description. Every match can be undone, and partial payments and payments covering several invoices are recorded with the amount of each match.
- Categorisation. Recurring transactions are categorised by rules and the rest by artificial intelligence, only above the minimum confidence the organisation sets. A manual correction can be saved as a rule.
- Export. The month, or the year, is exported as a single ZIP file, with an Excel workbook of transactions, documents and cash flow, plus the period's documents renamed by date, issuer and number.
In the transactions list, each one shows its reconciliation status, and those still unreconciled are the starting point for requesting what is missing. The accountant has a dedicated role, with view and export access and no permission to change data, and that role does not count towards the user limit.
EngiFinance has a defined scope. It does not issue invoices, as it reads the sales invoices issued in the invoicing software the business already uses, and statements come in by file, by product design. Organisations that want bank reconciliation connected to their ERP and implemented to measure will find another approach in our article on how to automate bank reconciliation in a company.
A practical example
Imagine a services business with two accounts at different banks, around 120 transactions a month and documents arriving by email and on paper. Until now, month-end was done at the start of the following month, with a spreadsheet and several rounds of emails with the accountant.
With the statement-first method, the office manager imports both statements at the end of each week and uploads the documents that have arrived. Automatic reconciliation handles the clear matches, and she accepts the suggestions that are right. On the last day of the month, say nine transactions remain unreconciled. Four are card payments with no invoice, three are supplier invoices that have not yet arrived and two are bank charges, which are categorised without a document.
The seven requests go out that day. When the documents arrive, reconciliation is complete and the month is exported as a ZIP for the accountant, who can also download it with their own access. Questions about unexplained payments are settled before the hand-over, not weeks later.
Frequently asked questions
Which documents should a business send its accountant every month?
As a rule, the statements for every bank account, purchase invoices and receipts, sales invoices and the supporting documents for any other payments and incoming funds. The exact list depends on the business and should be agreed with the accountant.
How can you tell which documents are missing?
From the bank statement. Every transaction left without a linked document after reconciliation is a document still to be requested.
Does EngiFinance need access to the bank accounts?
No. Statements are imported from a file, in CSV, Excel, CAMT.053 or MT940, and PDF statements are read by artificial intelligence.
Does the accountant pay to use EngiFinance?
No. The accountant has a dedicated role, with view and export access and no permission to change data, and that role does not count towards the user limit.
Does EngiFinance issue invoices?
No. It reads the sales invoices issued in the invoicing software the business already uses.
What does the accountant receive in the export?
A ZIP file per month or per year, with an Excel workbook of transactions, documents and cash flow, plus the period's documents renamed by date, issuer and number.