What to check before closing a month

The checks a non-profit should run before closing a month in Achekam, from waiting suggestions and unposted bills to bank lines and the trial balance.

By Achekam · 11 October 2026 · 5 min read · For Non-profit businesses in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya

Closing a month sounds like an accountant's ritual, but for a non-profit it is the moment your figures become something you can stand behind. Funder reports, board packs and budget comparisons all read from closed months. If a month closes with receipts unposted, bank lines unexplained or a bill sitting in someone's inbox, every report built on it carries that gap forward.

The trouble is that month end usually falls on the person who is also running payroll, answering a funder's query and preparing for the board. Checks get skipped not from carelessness but from tiredness.

This article sets out what Achekam checks for you before a month closes, what you still need to check yourself, and an order of work that gets you there without a scramble.

What the close screen checks for you

Months can be soft-closed, hard-closed and locked, and a closed month refuses postings from every source. Before closing, the screen checks that the ledger balances and that no posting suggestions, unposted bills or unmatched bank lines are waiting.

Those checks are a safety net, not the whole job. They tell you that something is waiting; they cannot tell you whether the things that are not yet in the system at all, such as a receipt still in a programme officer's bag, ought to be. So treat the close screen as the final confirmation, and do the work below first.

Posting suggestions still waiting for a person

Supplier invoices and receipts uploaded to Financial Intake become suggested postings. AI can suggest, but only a person approves and posts. Bank lines that are not yet in the books also become suggested journals for a person to approve.

At month end, open the list of waiting suggestions and work through it:

Approve suggestions that are right, checking the account, the grant it is charged to and the date.
Query any that point at the wrong account or month, and do not approve them as they stand.
Hold back anything you cannot yet explain, and note why, rather than approving it to clear the list.

Before you start, chase the documents themselves. Ask programme staff for every receipt and invoice from the month, including those from field visits and petty cash, so they are uploaded before the review rather than after the close.

Supplier bills not yet posted

Supplier bills are recorded line by line with VAT. A bill without a purchase order waits for approval before it posts, and it can be paid in full or in parts from a chosen bank account.

Bills awaiting approval are a common reason a month will not close. Before month end:

List bills still waiting for approval and remind the approvers.
Check that each bill is charged to the right grant or fund.
Ask suppliers who usually invoice late for anything outstanding.
For costs incurred in the month but not yet billed, decide with your accountant whether to accrue them by journal.

A bill that arrives after the month is closed cannot be posted into it, which is why chasing early matters. If one does arrive late, a late bill for a month already reported to a funder explains the options.

Bank lines not yet matched

Import every bank account's statement up to the month's last day. Bank lines are matched by suggestion and a person accepts each match, and a reconciliation completes only when there is no difference or every leftover line is explained.

Work through the unmatched lines:

Receipts. Donations, grant tranches and event deposits. Identify each one and approve it into the right account.
Payments. Supplier payments, salaries and bank charges. Match each to the bill or payroll it settles.
Leftovers. Anything you cannot yet identify. Do not force a match. Explain the line in the reconciliation and carry it forward for investigation.

Deposits nobody recognises are worth particular attention; bank deposits you cannot trace to a donor covers how to deal with them.

A trial balance that balances

The trial balance shows each account for all time, for a period or at a date, and says whether debits equal credits. Run it for the month and read it, not just its total.

Questions to ask of it:

Do debits equal credits? If not, stop and find out why before going further.
Does each bank account's balance agree with the bank statement at month end?
Do any accounts have a balance on the wrong side, such as a credit on an expense account, which often means a mis-posting?
Is any holding or suspense account carrying a balance that should have been cleared?
Do grant liability accounts still look right after this month's releases?

Investopedia's guide to the trial balance explains how the listing of ledger balances is used to check that total debits equal total credits. A balanced trial balance is a necessary check, not proof that every entry went to the right account, which is why the questions above matter.

If you find a mistake, remember that a posted journal is corrected only by reversal. Reverse it and post the correct entry; the ledger keeps both.

Soft close first, lock once the report is out

Closing in stages gives you room to catch problems without leaving the month open indefinitely.

Soft close once the checks above are done. Posting stops while someone else reviews the figures.
Hard close once the review is complete and the management figures are final. Reopening a hard close needs a second approver, which is the protection you want once others rely on the month.
Lock once the funder report or board pack built on the month has gone out.

For organisations whose year does not start in January, the year-to-date figures in management accounts need a little care after closing; see year-to-date figures for a non-January financial year.

A month-end order of work

Print this and keep it with your finance procedures:

Chase receipts, invoices and claims from staff.
Upload them and clear the posting suggestions.
Approve or query waiting supplier bills.
Import bank statements and work through every line.
Post payroll, grant releases and any accruals.
Run and read the trial balance.
Soft close, review, then hard close.

Pick a fixed working day each month for the close, put it in everyone's calendar, and protect it the way you would protect a funder deadline.

General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.