Does your financial close process feel like it’s always behind? Every accounting team knows the feeling. The end of the month, quarter, or half-year arrives, and suddenly everything’s urgent. Reports are late. Accruals are missing. Bank reconciliations are still open. Teams scramble to reconcile accounts that should have balanced days ago.
The financial close process doesn’t have to be chaotic. Unfortunately, for many businesses, it becomes that way because their underlying systems and workflows can’t keep up with their growth.
At Stellar One, we help companies streamline how they close the books, whether that’s monthly, quarterly, or biannually. We know that modern systems and policies can create a faster, more reliable close, and our goal is to make the process itself smarter through ERP implementation.
But before migrating to an ERP platform, you can take six practical steps to shorten the process without sacrificing accuracy:
- Align Financial Close Policies Before You Automate
- Create a Single Source of Truth for Your Financials
- Standardize and Automate Financial Reconciliation
- Use Real-Time Visibility to Prevent Surprises in Your Finances
- Shorten Financial Review Cycles With Better Collaboration
- Measure Your Financial Close Performance and Celebrate Improvements
By the end of this article, you’ll understand where time is being lost and what you can do to reclaim it, positioning your business for smoother, more confident reporting in the future.
1. Align Financial Close Policies Before You Automate
One of the biggest misconceptions about speeding up the close is that technology alone will fix it. But software can’t solve inconsistent processes.
Before you automate, you need clarity and consistency. Every department, including finance, sales, purchasing, and warehouses, should know what’s expected and when. That includes:
- When purchase receipts and customer shipments are entered
- When invoices and payments must be posted
- When accruals are due
- Who approves final entries before close
Without that foundation, even the best ERP platform can’t prevent delays or rework.
Tip: Write down your close policy. One clear checklist can prevent countless hours of confusion.
2. Create a Single Source of Truth for Your Financials
If different departments use different systems or even spreadsheets, it’s nearly impossible to close quickly. Data silos lead to mismatched reports, version confusion, and repetitive manual reconciliation.
Instead, your financial close process should flow through one shared system. A centralized data source will allow your accounting team to see what’s been posted, what’s pending, and what’s missing in real time.
The slowest close isn’t caused by bad accounting alone, which many businesses tend to believe. It’s often caused by disconnected systems.
Tip: If a full ERP solution isn’t in your immediate plans, start small by integrating your finance tool with your Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) and inventory management systems. Then, when you’re ready, you’ll already have the structure in place for a seamless transition.
3. Standardize and Automate Financial Reconciliation
Manual reconciliation is one of the biggest culprits of a slow financial close. Whether closing monthly or quarterly, teams often spend hours copying data, matching transactions, and fixing minor discrepancies that could be automated.
Start by automating repetitive tasks like:
- Recurring postings
- Intercompany eliminations
- Bank reconciliations
These small automations eliminate human error and accelerate accuracy. The less time your team spends fixing data, the faster you can move from reconciliation to analysis.
Tip: In ERP systems, automations can also apply to approvals and report generation, two of the most time-consuming close tasks. See your pricing for Acumatica ERP software with Stellar one below.
4. Use Real-Time Visibility to Prevent Surprises in Your Finances
Most close delays happen because something unexpected surfaces at the last minute, such as a missed invoice, commission adjustments, or an entry posted to the wrong period. These problems primarily arise from poor data visibility.
By giving finance real-time access to transactions and departmental activity, you can catch issues before the close even begins. A shared dashboard showing open orders, unpaid invoices, and payments pending approval will help everyone stay accountable.
Tip: Regular mid-period reviews, especially before a quarter-end or bi-annual close, allow teams to fix problems early. This shift turns the final close into a confirmation rather than a discovery mission.
5. Shorten Financial Review Cycles With Better Collaboration
Accountants can’t close faster if they’re waiting on other teams. Slow approvals and miscommunication between finance and other departments are among the most common and most preventable bottlenecks.
Create predictable, scheduled checkpoints for review and approval. Make it clear who signs off on which reports and when. This structure minimizes back-and-forth and ensures leadership isn’t blindsided at the last minute.
Tip: Build collaboration into your tools. Modern ERP systems include workflow approvals and shared dashboards that make cross-department sign-offs quick and transparent.
6. Measure Your Financial Close Performance and Celebrate Improvements
You can’t improve what you don’t measure. Tracking your close performance helps identify what’s working and what isn’t.
Consider monitoring:
- Number of days to close
- Frequency of reopened periods
- Volume of manual adjustments after close
Use these insights to refine your process over time. And when your team hits new efficiency milestones, celebrate them. Recognition reinforces good habits and turns improvement into part of your culture.
Tip: Set a realistic goal, like reducing close time by one business day per quarter. Small, consistent gains have a compounding impact.
From Manual to Managed: The Evolution of a Faster Financial Close
It’s easier to speed up your financial close when you remove the obstacles. Get your process documented, your data connected, and your workflows automated. Once you’ve done so, closing the books, whether monthly or quarterly, will become a matter of routine instead of stress.
Most businesses don’t need a total system overhaul to see results, at least not to start. Often, improving communication and automating small steps can save entire days in the process. But when those fixes no longer scale, that’s when businesses start looking to an ERP platform for true efficiency and control.
Get Faster Financial Closes, Fewer Surprises, and More Confidence
A faster financial close means running your business with real-time insight. When your data is accurate and up to date, you can make better decisions, forecast with confidence, and avoid the end-of-period panic that slows teams down.
If your close process still depends on spreadsheets and late-night reconciliations, it might be time to consider what a connected ERP system could do for you. Many Stellar One members start small, streamlining their existing process first, then move toward full integration once their foundation is solid.
At Stellar One, we help companies make that transition confidently, with an ERP system designed to simplify the financial close from day one. Learn more about manual vs. ERP platform financial closes, or click below to calculate your subscription costs with our pricing calculator.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Financial Close Process