Month End Close Reconciliation Engine

You are my month end close engine. Ask me one question at a time to set up: what entity and period am I closing, which accounts and subledgers are in scope, where does my data live (uploaded to this Project, pasted, or the Claude add in for Excel), and do I have last month's actuals and budget to compare against. Once I answer, confirm the close scope back to me as a checklist and tell me which of the prompts that follow apply to my close. Do not start analysis until I confirm the scope.

Here are two files: my bank statement export and my GL cash account detail for the same period. Match every line item in both directions. Output three tables: matched pairs with amounts, bank lines with no GL match, GL lines with no bank match. For near misses within $1 or 3 days, propose the match and flag it for my review instead of forcing it. Do not invent a match to make the totals tie.

Here are the intercompany account details from Entity A and Entity B for this period. They should mirror each other. Find every transaction that appears on one side and not the other, every amount mismatch, and every timing difference. Rank by dollar size. For each break, tell me which side most likely has the error and why. Give me a total of the unreconciled difference.

Here is my [AP aging / AR aging / fixed asset / payroll] subledger export and my GL balance for that account as of period end. Tie them out. If they do not match, break the difference into timing items posted after cutoff, unapplied amounts, sign errors, and anything else. Show the math that walks from the subledger total to the GL balance, one reconciling item at a time.

This account is out by [amount]. Here is the activity detail and the supporting schedule. Check these causes specifically and show me the exact lines that could produce a difference of this size: a sign flip, a duplicate entry, a transposition (differences divisible by 9), a missing accrual reversal, a cutoff error, a rounding pile up. Output either the culprit line or a short ranked candidate list with the arithmetic shown. GATE: until this difference is explained, do not proceed to the flux memo.

Here is this month's P&L next to last month and budget. Write the variance commentary a good FP&A manager would: for every line moving more than 5 percent or $25K, say what moved, the most likely driver based on the detail I gave you, and whether it looks like timing or trend. Flag anything you cannot explain from the data as needing a human answer. Do not invent a driver to fill a gap.

Using this trial balance and the variance commentary we just built, draft the flux memo in this structure: threshold statement, every account over threshold with prior period, current period, dollar and percent change, explanation, and preparer conclusion. Every explanation must tie to a number in the commentary. Where the explanation is thin, mark it THIN instead of padding it so I know what to strengthen before the auditors do.

Interview me about my month end close, one question at a time. Build the full task list: every reconciliation, journal, review, and report, with who owns it, what it depends on, and which day it should land. Then output it as a close calendar I can rerun every month, with the critical path marked and any task that could start earlier called out.

Here is my accrual schedule and this month's actual invoices received. For each accrual: did the actual arrive, was the accrual over or under, what is the true up entry, and which accruals have rolled forward more than 2 months without an actual landing. Give me the true up entries ready to post and a separate stale accrual list for my review.

For each journal entry on this list, draft the support memo: what the entry does, why it is needed this period, the calculation behind the amount, and what document supports it. Where I have not attached a supporting document, list exactly what I need to attach. Output it so an auditor could follow the entry without asking me a question.

Here is my close calendar and how long each task actually took the last three months. Find tasks that could start earlier because their dependency finishes sooner than assumed, tasks that could run before period end, reconciliations that could run daily instead of monthly, and the true critical path. Propose next month's calendar with a target of cutting two days, and list what has to be true for each move so I can pick the safe ones.

You are now the gate keeper on the close you just ran. Do not summarise, do not reassure, and do not report a tie you cannot defend. Run all six gates below against every account you called tied, and output a table with one row per gate: PASS, or REFUSED with the exact lines that caused the refusal.

GATE 1, same journal batch. If a match is made from two entries that offset to zero and carry the same journal batch or the same posting reference, that is not a tie. Refuse it and show both lines. This is the most common false clean run.
GATE 2, plug. If any difference was closed by a single round figure with no supporting document, refuse and name the amount.
GATE 3, cutoff. If an item dated after the period cutoff was used to clear a period end balance, refuse and list the item with its date.
GATE 4, source. Every reconciling item must carry a document reference: invoice, statement line, journal id, or schedule. Any item without one is refused, not assumed.
GATE 5, sign. If a difference resolved because a sign was flipped, refuse unless a source document supports the direction. Show the document or refuse.
GATE 6, re-derivation. Recompute the closing balance a second, independent way from the raw detail rather than from your own earlier working. If the two do not agree to the cent, return NOT RECONCILED and stop.

Output the gate table, then one line: RECONCILED, or REFUSED with the count of open gates. If any gate refuses, say plainly "I cannot tie this, look here" and point at the lines. Do not soften it, do not proceed to the flux memo, the break memo, or any sponsor output. A clean run I cannot break is not proof.

Take every item still open after the gate battery and write the break memo a sponsor or an audit committee will actually read. For each break: the account and entity, the amount, how old it is in days, what caused it stated in one plain sentence, the document that proves the cause or the words NO SOURCE YET, the named owner, and the date it is expected to clear. Rank by dollar size, then by age. Open with three lines: total breaks, total unreconciled dollars, and the single break most likely to move the reported number. Do not write a break I cannot check, and do not describe a break as resolved while its gate is still open.

I am closing several entities under one owner. Here is each entity's gate table and break memo. Build the portfolio view: one row per entity with close day, subledgers tied, gates open, break count, unreconciled dollars, and memo status. Rank the entities by risk to the consolidated number, not alphabetically. Then give me three things: the entities where the number would move if a break resolved against us, the breaks that appear in more than one entity and therefore point at a shared process rather than a one off, and the shortest list of actions that would clear the most dollars. State every figure as of the close date it came from. Where two entities used different cutoffs, say so rather than blending them.