Month-end close

Month-end close is the review process that turns daily bookkeeping into a period the firm is comfortable reporting on. LedgerHQ's close workflow is built around a deterministic worksheet. Tally can help prepare and explain the worksheet, but closing and reopening remain human-confirmed owner-level operations.

Close is not the same as period lock. A close record says the firm reviewed the period. A period lock controls whether later journal activity is allowed on or before a lock date.

Use The Suggested Period Lock

Open the company's Settings page after completing reconciliations. The Period Lock section can suggest the common date through which every active reconciliation-tracked account has a completed reconciliation.

Select Use date to place that recommendation in the lock-date field, review it, and then save the lock. The recommendation is never applied automatically. If one tracked account is behind, LedgerHQ does not recommend a date beyond that account's completed reconciliation frontier.

A period lock prevents backdated changes on or before the saved date. Advance it only after reviewing the completed reconciliations and any other close work the firm requires. A recommendation proves reconciliation coverage; it does not prove that statements, adjustments, reports, or every close judgment are complete.

The Close Worksheet

The close worksheet checks the areas that most often block reliable reports:

1. bank feed rows posted;
2. unknown money reviewed;
3. transfer and credit card payment pairs handled;
4. feed health reviewed;
5. statement coverage;
6. reconciliations;
7. Balance Sheet review;
8. P&L variance review;
9. scheduled or accrual adjustment readiness.

Red items should send the user back to the workflow that owns the problem. For example, unposted feed rows belong in Bank Feeds or Fast Coding. Missing statements belong in Statements and Client Requests. Unreconciled accounts belong in Bank Recs.

Statuses

A close can be open, in review, ready, closed, or reopened depending on the workflow state. The important distinction is whether the period is still being prepared, ready for human review, or formally closed by the firm.

Tally can mark a green close ready for supervisor review when authority allows it. Tally should not close the period on its own.

Tally's Role

In watch-and-suggest mode, Tally can prepare the worksheet, explain blockers, stage due scheduled journal entries, and suggest next actions. In autonomous mode, Tally may perform safe supported actions such as running approved scheduled-entry patterns or marking a green worksheet ready, but it still must respect duties, approvals, locks, and validation.

If a close check is red, Tally should point to the owning workflow rather than pretending close can fix everything directly.

Human Close And Reopen

Closing the month is a human-confirmed action. It should happen only after the firm has reviewed the worksheet and is comfortable with the reports.

Reopening is also human-confirmed. Reopening a close does not automatically move a period lock or undo accounting entries. It simply changes the close state so the firm can continue review.

What To Do When A Close Fails

Start with the red check. Open the related LedgerHQ workflow and resolve the underlying item. Then return to the close worksheet and rerun or refresh the checks.

If the worksheet appears wrong, create a support ticket with the company, close period, failed check, and the report or row that contradicts the worksheet.