Before day one: write the close's decision rights into the remit
Before the first close, write into the Finance Controller Digital FTE's remit which adjustments it may propose, the threshold above which everything stays gated regardless of pattern, and which categories go to the accountant rather than the controller: accrual estimates, revenue recognition, ambiguous treatment. Set the mission budget. Record the baseline from the last two closes: days to close, exceptions open on day one, controller hours, adjustments after sign-off.
Daily reconciliation should already be running; the close playbook assumes it, because that is what makes day one short.
Day 1: open the mission and read the reconciled state
Open the close as a production mission in the Missions tab. The morning brief shows the period's reconciled state: matches with documents, the short list of open exceptions with reasons and evidence, cut-off candidates near the boundary, and anomalies flagged during the month still undecided. The mission's progress view shows items resolved, waiting on a decision, and waiting on a document from someone else.
Day one's work is deciding exceptions from evidence, not matching; the matching happened.
Days 2–3: decide exceptions, approve proposed accruals
Work the waiting items from the top of the brief. Each exception carries its documents; decide it or route it to the accountant with the FTE's package. Each proposed accrual carries its reasoning and the evidence it rests on; approve, edit, or send back with a reason. Anything with two defensible treatments goes to the accountant, whose decision is recorded as theirs. Items waiting on a document are chased by the FTE with a reminder for approval.
Every decision is logged with a name, which is the audit record being written in real time.
- Exception: documents attached, controller decides or routes
- Accrual: reasoning and evidence attached, controller approves
- Judgement call: to the accountant, decision recorded as theirs
- Waiting on a document: reminder proposed, sent on approval
Day 4: cut-off checks and the last anomalies
Review the cut-off candidates the FTE flagged near the period boundary, each with a proposed period and the transaction detail; decide the period. Clear the remaining anomaly flags: duplicates, unusual amounts, timing shifts, each with what made it unusual. The mission's progress view should show only sign-off items remaining by the end of the day.
If the list is still long on day four, the exception reasons say why: usually a connection that lagged or a category the remit did not cover, both fixable before next month.
Day 5: sign-off and the audit export
Sign off. The audit record for the period is an export of what was logged as the month went: every match with its documents, every approval with a name, every exception decision with its evidence, every accrual with its reasoning, and the accountant's judgement calls under their name. Nothing is assembled; it is exported. The FTE completes the mission and writes its review in the first person: what was reconciled, what remained open and why, what took longest, what it recommends changing.
Read the review; the recommendations are usually about a category the remit should cover or a document that arrives late every month.
After the second close: the comparison
After the second close on this pattern, compare against the baseline: days to close, exceptions open on day one, controller hours, adjustments after sign-off. The first close included setup and is not representative; the second is. If the exception list on day one was short and the controller's hours fell, daily reconciliation did its job. If not, the exception reasons across two closes point at the fix.
Decide at the monthly review whether exact matches have earned auto-approval, if they have not already.
What does done look like?
Done is a close that was a review rather than a reconstruction: a reconciled ledger on day one, exceptions decided from documents, accruals approved with reasoning, judgement calls made by the accountant from an evidence-rich ledger, an audit pack exported rather than built, and a first-person review of the close from the worker who ran it. The controller spent their days deciding rather than matching.
The close did not get automated. It got smaller, which is the honest description.