Closing the Books Smarter: 5 End-of-Year Tips for Finance Teams
by The Ottimate Editorial Team
Let’s face it: year-end isn’t always a happy time for finance teams. Often, it’s a high-pressure stretch filled with late nights, last-minute reconciliations, and invoices and approvals that all seem to arrive at the eleventh hour.
It’s easy to accept this chaos as inevitable. But in reality, much of the stress of year-end close is avoidable.
In this post, we’ll walk through five practical best practices that can help finance teams streamline year-end close, reduce friction across teams and vendors, and start the new year off on the right foot.
Tip #1: Plan (and communicate) as early as possible
A smooth year-end close doesn’t just happen by chance. Instead, it requires advance planning and proactive communication.
Start by determining what needs to get done and how you’ll make that happen. A solid plan will serve as a roadmap, helping you avoid last-minute scrambling.
While planning is certainly critical, clear, proactive communication is just as important.
Remember that year-end doesn’t only involve the finance team. Budget owners, department leaders, operations teams, sales, and anyone who touches invoices all play a role in getting the books closed. But year-end is hectic for all of these teams. That’s why it’s important to proactively communicate key milestones, cutoff dates, and other expectations to ensure alignment before the chaotic end of the year arrives.
One effective way to plan for year-end is to treat every month-end close like a series of mini sprints. When your month-end close process is consistent and smooth, your year-end close will be more predictable and less chaotic.
Tip #2: Operationalize the plan with clear workflows, ownership, and timelines
A plan is only effective if it’s actually put into action. Otherwise, it’s just theoretical.
Start by looking for opportunities to standardize how work gets done. Whenever possible, establish clear rules for each step of the process so there’s no confusion about what needs to happen next or who is responsible.
Automation can play an important role in streamlining repetitive tasks like invoice intake, coding, and approval workflows. But even if you’re not able to adopt new automation technology right now, you can still establish rules that’ll speed up processes or eliminate manual steps. For example, a clearly defined approval workflow outlines who approves what and when, which can prevent bottlenecks and keep invoices moving.
For businesses with multiple locations, such as restaurants, hotels, or healthcare organizations, consistency is even more important. The more teams across locations can work in the same way and contribute to the same, centralized set of information, the easier it is to close your books accurately and on time come year-end.
Tip #3: Loop in your vendors
Vendors play a big role in year-end close processes. Yet, they’re often overlooked, largely because finance teams feel they have little direct control over them.
But proactive communication with vendors is essential, especially as year-end approaches.
Start by communicating your year-end timelines and expectations early on. Let vendors know cutoff dates for invoice submission and what they need to do to ensure invoices are processed and paid before year-end. When vendors understand your process, they’re more likely to submit accurate invoices on time, which will help you clear expenses off the books before the year closes.
Centralizing vendor information can also benefit both your business and your vendors. Collecting W-9s, payment details, and other required documentation ahead of time reduces the back-and-forth in January.
Strong vendor relationships also help reduce risk. Fraudulent invoices are on the rise, and familiarity can help combat it. When you work with the same vendors for a long time, you know what a legitimate invoice looks like, who it comes from, and where payment should be remitted. This makes it easier to flag issues before funds are approved and sent.
Tip #4: Reinforce expectations across teams
Many of the activities that matter most during year-end close may seem routine to finance teams. But they’re often less familiar to others. For example, a chef who is approving invoices may not be thinking in terms of audit readiness or internal controls. That’s why reinforcement is so important.
As year-end approaches, finance teams should regularly remind cross-functional partners why certain activities or processes matter. This might include reinforcing approval order and timing, proper documentation of vendor agreements, and the importance of following proper processes for onboarding new vendors.
Clear communication and reinforcement helps ensure everyone understands not just what needs to be done, but why it matters. When teams outside of finance understand the role they play in compliance and risk reduction, year-end close becomes less reactive and far easier to manage.
Tip #5: Document what worked (and what didn’t)
When the books are finally closed, it’s tempting to move on to the next thing as quickly as possible. But taking the time to document your year-end processes while everything is still fresh in your mind will set you up for greater success in the year ahead.
Reflect on what went well during the year-end close. For example, take note of processes that ran efficiently and vendors or internal partners were the easiest to work with (and why). Documenting these wins will make it easier to repeat and scale them in the future.
It’s also important to capture what didn’t go well. This might include process gaps, recurring bottlenecks, areas where rework was common, and times when there was friction between internal stakeholders or vendors. These are areas that can be improved in the year ahead.
As teams grow and new employees come onboard, clear documentation also creates a shared standard of operations. Everyone knows what to expect and how the process works, which makes year-end close a lot smoother and less stressful for all.
Ready to close the books with confidence?
Year-end close doesn’t have to be chaotic. With early planning, operationalized processes, strong communication across teams and vendors, and a commitment to continuous improvement, finance teams can transform year-end close into a more controlled, predictable process.
If you’re looking to reduce manual work and bring more structure to your year-end close, automation can help. Solutions like Ottimate replace disconnected workflows with consistent, centralized processes. That means teams can close the books faster, reduce risk, and start the new year off on the right foot.
Want to hear more tips directly from the experts? Watch “Closing the Books Smarter5 End-of-Year Tips for Finance Teams” here.