CONTRACTOR MONTH-END CLOSE CHECKLIST

The financial control system most contractors skip

Purpose
This checklist ensures your books reflect what actually happened on your jobs this month so you can control cash, labor, and job profitability before issues compound.

Time Required
30–60 minutes once your system is set up

1.Bank & Credit Card Reconciliations

Always start here

☐ Reconcile all bank accounts through month-end
☐ Reconcile all credit cards through month-end
☐ Investigate and fix any unreconciled differences
☐ Confirm no missing deposits or payments

Rule
If accounts are not reconciled, every report is unreliable.

2.Income Review

Confirm revenue is complete and realistic

☐ Confirm all customer invoices for the month are recorded
☐ Match deposits to issued invoices
☐ Review unapplied payments or credits
☐ Flag unusually large or missing invoices

Check
Does income align with work actually completed?

3.Cash Flow Reality Check

Critical for cash-heavy contractor businesses

☐ Review beginning cash balance
☐ Review ending cash balance
☐ Identify major cash inflows
☐ Identify major cash outflows

☐ Review Accounts Receivable aging
☐ Identify invoices over 30 days
☐ Confirm expected collection timing

Ask
Is upcoming payroll or vendor pay dependent on unpaid invoices?

4. Vendor & Subcontractor Costs

Where cash quietly leaks

☐ Enter all vendor bills for the month
☐ Enter all subcontractor invoices
☐ Confirm bills are coded to the correct job

☐ Review Accounts Payable aging
☐ Identify bills due in the next 14–30 days
☐ Confirm upcoming payments align with cash balance

Ask
If I pay everything due, what happens to cash?

5. Subcontractor Information Check

Payment and risk control

☐ Confirm W-9 on file for all active subcontractors
☐ Flag any subcontractors missing tax information
☐ Avoid releasing final payment without W-9 when possible

Ask
If I had to issue 1099s today, am I ready?

6. Payroll & Labor Allocation

Labor errors destroy job profitability

☐ Confirm payroll for the month is fully recorded
☐ Verify labor is assigned to the correct jobs
☐ Separate job labor from overhead labor
☐ Review overtime or labor spikes

Reminder
Short-term labor still belongs on the job it worked on.

7. Job Cost Accuracy Check

This is the point of the close

☐ Review top 3–5 active jobs
☐ Look for missing cost categories
☐ Compare actual costs to job progress
☐ Identify jobs trending over budget

Ask
Would I price this job the same way knowing what I know now?

8. Open Items Review

Loose ends compound fast

☐ Review open customer invoices
☐ Review unpaid vendor bills
☐ Review customer credits or retainage
☐ Flag items older than 30 days

9. Financial Snapshot

Only now do reports matter

☐ Run Profit & Loss for the month
☐ Compare to prior month
☐ Identify 1–2 problem areas
☐ Identify 1 improvement

Do not overanalyze
This step is about visibility, not perfection.

10. Save & Lock the Month

Protect your data

☐ Save reconciliations
☐ Export month-end reports
☐ Lock the month if possible
☐ Move on

EDGESTRAT INSIGHT

Most contractors do bookkeeping. Very few do financial control.

This checklist is not about tax prep.
It is about knowing where money is made or lost while you can still fix it.