Easing the Pain of Month-End Close

Sponsored by SkyStem

Closing the books at the end of the month can be a lot of work. Doing it month after month can be grueling. And when the organization is growing and adding new technology, well, that can just make an already tough job that much more difficult, says our guest in this episode of the CUES Podcast.

Jennifer Stein, CPA, CGMA, is senior project manager for SkyStem, a CUES Supplier member based in New York City and the sponsor of this show. A former corporate controller, Stein has been through the ups and downs of the month-end close many times, and that experience has driven her passion for making the process easier for accounting teams.

Her top tip? Standardize the process. This is especially helpful during this era of turnover caused by the Great Resignation, she says.

“By standardizing your processes and your reconciliation templates, for example, you’re helping new people learn the exact same way that other people are doing things,” she says in the show. “So, by having standardization in process and templates or forms, not only are you … teaching these people the best way to do what you’re doing, but also helping on the flip side, the reviewer who’s reviewing these things, because they’re used to the same format. If you were to give three new employees three different blank spreadsheets and say here, go reconcile … prepaid insurance, you’re going to get three different-looking reconciliations back. So, it helps on both sides.”

In the show, Stein also talks about the importance of leaders setting the pathway then designing and fine-tuning the process and aligning technology that can assist.

What does Stein think the future looks like for accounting professionals? Her answer is about digitization and digital skills. 

She recommends accountants be willing to grow their skill set in the digital area, how it “can complement and amplify what you’re already doing.”

“It just goes beyond debits and credits,” she says. “It’s about being able to maximize and leverage what you have to make your job easier and less stressful.”

Links for this show: