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Accounting · Month-end
Know the month is ready before you lock it.
A close checklist reads the ledger for you — journals still unposted, banks not reconciled, depreciation not run, a trial balance that does not balance — and sits beside the steps your team does by hand. The journals that adjust the month go from draft, through a second person if you want one, to posted; after that they are reversed, never deleted.
Close checklist · September 20268 of 11 done
Checked by AWRA
No manual journals left unposted1 draft, rejected or unapproved journal is dated in this month.
Bank accounts reconciledNot yet reconciled to 30 Sep 2026: Equity current account.
Depreciation postedNo assets are being depreciated.
Trial balance balancesDebits equal credits to the end of the month.
The month before is closedAugust 2026 is closed.
Your steps
Record accruals and prepaymentsDone · Achieng · 2 Oct
Review the VAT and withholding tax positionSkipped · “Filed early, reviewed on 20 Sep”
7 checksworked out from the ledger every time the page opens — nobody ticks them
Your stepsfive to start with, then yours to edit, add and switch off
Informs, never blocksthe person who closes may know something the list does not
Reversed, not deleteda posted journal entry refuses to be removed
Why a checklist, before a lock
Closing a month is easy. Closing it right is a list.
AWRA has long been able to lock an accounting period so nothing backdated lands in it. What the lock cannot tell you is whether the month was ready: whether the last bank statement was matched, the depreciation run, the accrual journal posted rather than left in someone’s drafts.
The close checklist answers that on one page, for the month you are closing — last month, unless you choose another — and closes it from the same page once you are satisfied.
Checked by AWRA
Seven questions the ledger can answer about itself.
Each check is worked out when the page loads, so it goes green the moment the work is done. A check that does not apply — no bank accounts, no depreciating assets — reads as not applicable rather than passing, so nothing to check is never mistaken for checked. Each one links to the screen where the work is done.
No manual journals left unposted
Counts draft, rejected and unapproved journals dated in the month. Closing the month locks them out, so they are worth posting or redating first.
Bank accounts reconciled
Every bank account needs a completed reconciliation to the month end or later; the ones that do not are named.
Not applicable when no bank accounts are set up.Depreciation posted
Every active asset must have its depreciation posted through the month; the check counts those still behind.
Not applicable when no assets are being depreciated.Petty cash vouchers approved
Counts petty cash vouchers dated in the month that are still waiting for approval.
Trial balance balances
Total debits and credits across the ledger to the month end, and the difference if they disagree.
Every account with a balance is classified
An account with a balance but no classification appears on no statement; the check names each one.
The month before is closed
If the previous month is still open, entries can still land in it — so the months close in order.
Not applicable when nothing was posted before this month. Your own steps
The work only a person can judge, recorded per month.
A workspace starts with five steps. Rename them, describe them, add your own and switch off the ones you do not use. Each month, mark a step done, or skipped with a reason — the reason is required — and the checklist records who marked it and when.
Record accruals and prepaymentsExpenses incurred but not yet billed, and anything paid in advance for later months.
DoneReview receivables and doubtful debtsChase or provide for invoices that will not be paid.
To doReconcile payroll and statutory liabilitiesPAYE, pension and other deductions held should match what is owed.
DoneReview the VAT and withholding tax positionWhat the ledger says is due should match the return you will file.
Skipped · reason givenReview the income statement for anything unusualCompare with last month and with the budget before the month is locked.
To doClose from the page
The person who manages accounts closes the month from the checklist, with an optional note. A closed month refuses entries dated in it — posting, changing or removing.
Reopen with a reason
Reopening a closed month needs a reason. Both the close and the reopen are written to the audit log with who did it.
Open items do not block
The checklist informs the close and never stops it. An open check is a question for the person closing, who may know something the list does not.
Manual journals
Draft, approve if you want to, post — then only reverse.
Nothing reaches the ledger until a journal posts. A draft is validated in full when it is saved — balanced to the cent, at least two lines and at most fifty, each line a debit or a credit on one of your accounts, optionally tagged by department, branch and project, and dated in an open month — so a draft that saves is one that can post.
Step 1
Draft
Saved and edited as often as you like. A draft or a rejected journal can be discarded; nothing else can.
Optional
Awaiting approval
When approval is switched on in Accounting Defaults — for every journal, or only those at or above a total you set — a submitted journal waits for an approver.
Step 2
Posted
Lines written to the ledger, the journal numbered from your sequence, and the posting recorded in the audit log.
After that
Reversed, if wrong
A second journal with every debit and credit swapped, on a date you choose or the first open day, so the ledger shows both what happened and that it was undone.
The author cannot approve their own
An approver needs the approve permission and cannot be the person who drafted the journal — nor reject it; the author withdraws it by editing instead.
Rejection goes back with a reason
A rejected journal returns to its author with the reason attached, ready to be corrected and submitted again.
A reversal is a journal too
It needs a reason, follows the same approval rule, and marks the original at once, so it cannot be reversed twice while the first reversal waits. A reversal itself is never reversed.
MJ-0042 · Electricity accrualPosted 30 Sep 2026 Posted
| Account | Debit | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| Electricity expense · Nakuru branch | 48,000.00 | — |
| Accrued expenses | — | 48,000.00 |
MJ-0047 · Reversal of MJ-0042Posted 1 Oct 2026 · “Bill received” Posted
| Account | Debit | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| Electricity expense · Nakuru branch | — | 48,000.00 |
| Accrued expenses | 48,000.00 | — |
The reversal carries the original lines’ department, branch and project tags, so a branch report nets to zero rather than showing the expense in one branch and the correction in none. September keeps the accrual; October carries the reversal beside the real bill.
What you get
One page to see the month, one rule for every journal.
Any month
The checklist opens on last month — the one usually being closed — and moves to any other month, each with its own marks.
Who and when
Every step marked done or skipped records the person and the time, and a mark can be taken back if it was premature.
Approval as a switch
Journal approval is a workspace setting with an optional threshold, so it is on only where you have turned it on.
Deletes refused
A posted journal entry refuses to be deleted, so a journal can never lose a leg and leave the ledger out of balance with no trace.
Separate permissions
Viewing, creating and approving journals are three permissions; editing the checklist and closing need the permission to manage accounts.
On mobile
Open the checklist and mark steps done or skipped; draft, submit, approve, reject, reverse and discard journals in the app. Closing the month is done on the web.
What AWRA OpsHub does today
- A close checklist per month with seven automatic checks worked out from the ledger each time it opens.
- Not-applicable checks shown as such, never as passed, with a link to the screen that does the work.
- Your own steps: five defaults to edit, add to and switch off, marked done or skipped with a required reason, and who marked them.
- Closing and reopening from the checklist, a reason required to reopen, and both written to the audit log.
- Manual journal drafts validated in full on save: balanced, two to fifty lines, tagged by department, branch and project, dated in an open month.
- Optional approval for every journal or above a threshold, by someone with the approve permission who is not the author.
- Rejection with a reason, back to the author to correct and resubmit.
- Posted journals reversed, never deleted, with the reversal under the same approval rule and the original protected from a second reversal.
- The checklist and journals in the mobile app, closing on the web.
More we can add to your workspace
- Recurring journals, such as a monthly accrual or allocation posted on its own each period.
- Attachments on a journal, so the invoice or working paper behind it travels with the posting.
- Auto-reversing accruals that post their own reversal on the first day of the next month.
- A bell alert to approvers when a journal is waiting for them.
- An owner and due date per close step, with a reminder as the close deadline approaches.
- A reviewer sign-off on the whole close, recorded beside the period lock.
- Journal import from a spreadsheet for large adjustments.
Where we point you to a specialist
- We will not let the checklist block a close. The person with the authority to close a month may know something the list does not, and a list that can veto them gets worked around.
- We will not let a posted entry be deleted, whoever asks. Reversing it keeps the record of what was posted and that it was undone, which is what an auditor reads.
Recurring journals and attachments on a journal are the two that most shorten a close, and both build on the draft, approval and posting steps the module already keeps. Tell us how your month-end runs today and we will come back with a written spec, a timeline and a price.
Explore next
The work the checklist checks.
Month-end close
Frequently asked questions
Does AWRA have a month-end close checklist?
Yes. For any month it runs seven automatic checks — unposted manual journals, bank reconciliation, depreciation, petty cash vouchers awaiting approval, a balancing trial balance, accounts with a balance but no classification, and whether the month before is closed — beside your own steps, which you mark done or skipped with a reason. You close the month from the same page.
Does the checklist stop me closing a month?
No. It informs the close and never blocks it. The person with the permission to manage accounts can close the month with open items, because they may know something the list does not. Reopening a closed month needs a reason, and both are recorded in the audit log.
Can manual journals require approval?
Yes, if you switch it on in Accounting Defaults — for every journal, or only those at or above a total you set. The approver needs the approve permission and cannot be the person who drafted the journal. A rejected journal goes back to its author with the reason.
Can a posted journal be deleted?
No. A posted journal entry refuses to be deleted. A mistake is corrected by reversing the journal: a second journal with every debit and credit swapped, with a reason and a date, under the same approval rule. The original cannot be reversed twice.
What does a manual journal check before it saves?
That debits equal credits to the cent, that there are at least two lines and at most fifty, that each line is either a debit or a credit on one of your accounts, that any department, branch or project tag belongs to your workspace, and that the date is in an open month.
Can I use the close checklist and journals on my phone?
Yes. The mobile app shows the checklist for any month and lets you mark steps done or skipped, and lets you draft, submit, approve, reject, reverse and discard manual journals. Closing the month is done on the web.
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