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Close the books faster. Report the day they lock.
A practical guide and workbook for finance leaders. Build a close calendar with one owner per task, tier your reconciliations by risk, and leave with five measures to track and four moves for your next close.
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What you'll learn
From heroics to a repeatable close
The guide runs eight short chapters. Here is what you walk away able to do, from writing the close calendar to moving toward a continuous close.
01
Define done and measure it
A close is finished when the numbers are complete, accurate, and ready to use. Track five measures: days to close, post-close adjustments, reconciliations on time, manual journal entries, and days to management report. Then build a calendar with one owner and one successor for every task.
02
See the close day by day
Follow an illustrative calendar from cutoff reminders before month end to period lock on day 5 and the management pack on day 7. See how a five-minute daily standup surfaces problems in hours.
03
Put the effort where the risk is
Sort reconciliations into high, medium, and low risk, with a review depth for each. Set accrual standards for thresholds, sources, reversals, and owner confirmation. Then map the manual handoffs and pick the three with the most hours attached.
04
Report early, stay audit-ready
Deliver a flash on day 3 and a management pack on day 7, each tied to the ledger. Keep controls, journal entry policy, and period locks in one close handbook. Then climb the maturity ladder toward a continuous close, and take four moves into your next one.
INSIDE THE E-BOOK
Eight chapters, from the first measure to a continuous close
What a Good Close Looks Like
Define done, then track five measures, from days to close to days to management report.
The Close Calendar
A day-by-day schedule with one owner and one successor per task, plus cutoffs and a five-minute standup.
Reconciliations and Accruals
Risk tiers for reconciliations, four accrual standards, and flux review on the same thresholds as variances.
Fix the Handoffs
See where the hours go in exporting, pasting, and reformatting, and the typical fix for each hot spot.
Reporting That Starts at Lock
A flash on day 3, a management pack on day 7, and board and lender reporting that ties to the ledger.
Controls You Can Show an Auditor
Review layers, journal entry approval, and period locks, with the evidence to keep for each.
Keep It All in a Close Handbook
One place for the calendar, thresholds, accrual standards, and policies, so the close survives a change in people.
Toward a Continuous Close
A four-stage maturity ladder, six questions for any tool that promises a faster close, and where AI fits.
The books are closed when the numbers are ready to be used.
Cube · Month-End Close Made Simple
Who's behind it
Written by a three-time CFO
Christina Ross has been CFO three times, at companies from high-growth startups to global enterprises. This e-book comes out of a conversation she has had dozens of times, with controllers who were excellent at their jobs and still not ready for hers.
It ends where Cube starts. When 60 to 80 percent of a finance team's capacity goes to reconciliation, the strategic work never gets a calendar slot. Cube's four FP&Agents work on a single governed data layer, so the hours the close used to take go to the judgment only you can supply.
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Get Month-End Close Made Simple
Eight chapters, a day-by-day close calendar, five measures to track, and four moves for your next close, plus a page for the business leaders your close depends on. Yours in one download.
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