Free Monthly Closing Checklist Template (Excel)
What Is a Monthly Closing Checklist
A monthly closing checklist lists every task an accounting team needs to complete to close the books for the month - reconciliations, journal entries, reviews - with an owner and a due date for each, so nothing gets missed in the rush to report on time.
Institutional versions posted online are usually a static task list with no formulas: you set every due date by hand, every month, and there's no built-in way to see how far along the close actually is. This template automates both.
Free Monthly Closing Checklist Excel Template: What's Inside
Two tabs. Settings holds one input: your closing start date for the month. Checklist lists up to 100 tasks, each with a section (Revenue, Expenses, Reconciliations, Payroll, Reporting), owner, days after the start date it's due, a status dropdown, and a computed due date and days-to-due.
Change the closing start date once each month on Settings, and every task's due date on the Checklist recalculates from it automatically - no re-entering 100 dates by hand.
Reconciliation Tasks: Bank, AP/AR, Prepaid & Fixed Assets
The Section dropdown groups tasks the way most closes are actually organized - reconciliations (bank, AP, AR, prepaid, fixed assets) sit as their own category alongside revenue recognition, expense accruals, payroll postings, and final reporting. Renaming the dropdown list to match your own close process is a one-line change if the defaults don't fit.
Because each task lives in the same flat list with a Section tag, the percent-complete summary can break down progress by section as well as overall - useful when reconciliations are still open but everything else has closed out.
Sign-Off and Status Tracking by Task Owner
Each task carries an Owner and a Status (Not started, In progress, Done). Days to due only shows for tasks that aren't marked Done, so the column stays focused on what's genuinely still open rather than cluttering the view with completed items.
The summary below the table counts tasks marked Done, calculates percent complete overall, and breaks out completion for the Revenue and Reconciliations sections specifically - a quick read on where the close stands without asking every owner for a status update.
How to use it
- Enter your closing start date once on the Settings sheet.
- List every closing task on the Checklist sheet with its section, owner, and days after the start date it's due.
- Watch due date calculate automatically from the start date as you add tasks.
- Check the summary below the table for percent complete overall and by section.
Download the free Free Monthly Closing Checklist Template (Excel)
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Small Business Bookkeeping & Tax Dashboard
This checklist tracks whether close tasks got done - it doesn't build the P&L those tasks feed into. The paid Bookkeeping & Tax Dashboard ($19) turns your income and expenses into an automatic month-by-month P&L across 16 Schedule C categories, with a CPA-ready export for tax time.
See the full versionFrequently asked questions
How do due dates calculate from one start date?
Each task has a "Days after start" number - due date is the closing start date (set once on the Settings sheet) plus that number of days. Change the start date each month and every due date shifts with it.
Can I use this in Google Sheets?
Yes. Upload the downloaded file to Google Drive, then open it and choose File > Save as Google Sheets. The due-date and percent-complete formulas keep working.
Can I change the section categories?
Yes. Revenue, Expenses, Reconciliations, Payroll, and Reporting are examples - edit the dropdown list to match your own close process if it's organized differently.
How many tasks can I track?
The Checklist sheet holds up to 100 rows. It's a standard table, so you can insert more rows and copy the due-date formula down.
What's the usage license?
Personal use or use within one business. It's not meant to be resold or redistributed as a template product.