Page 252 - Accounting Best Practices

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12–16 Create a Closing Schedule
look last-minute fixed asset additions if some of the accounts payable have not
been entered. A disorganized closing can drastically delay the completion of
financial statements.
The best practice that resolves this issue is to create a closing schedule such as
the one shown in Exhibit 12.4. This schedule itemizes all tasks that must be com-
pleted during each day of the closing process. By creating such a schedule, it is
immediately obvious when all tasks must be completed so that the controller can
follow up with employees and apply extra resources to those tasks that are falling
behind the schedule. Please note that a number of activities scheduled in Exhibit
12.4 should be completed prior to the end of the reporting period, leaving much
less work to do at the end of the process. This schedule is most effective when com-
bined with a schedule of responsibilities, such as the one noted earlier in Exhibit
12.2. The two schedules can even be combined so that the name or title of the
responsible person is listed at the beginning of each activity in the closing schedule.

Exhibit 12.3 Example of Parallel Closing Activities
Reprinted with permission from Steven Bragg, Just-in-Time Accounting (New York: John
Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1996), p. 334.