Reducing Accounting Close Time Without Adding Headcount

JR Brennan
Mar 20
4 min read

“We need to close faster.”

If you’re an accountant, you've heard this before - probably more than once. Whether it’s pressure from leadership, reporting deadlines, or investor expectations, the demand to accelerate the monthly close never goes away.

And yet, many organizations try to solve the problem the same way: by asking teams to “work smarter,” stay late, or bolt on another spreadsheet. In some cases, they add headcount to keep up with the increasing complexity of the business. But more headcount often just means more people managing manual processes - not improving them.

Sustainable accounting close acceleration doesn’t come from working harder. It comes from building smarter. High-performing R2R teams focus on structure, process design, and automation - not just effort.

Here’s how to start cutting your close time without adding headcount.

Step 1: Eliminate the Root Cause of Manual Journals

Ask any accounting team what eats up the most time during close, and journal entries are usually at the top of the list. Accruals, reclasses, allocations, reversals - they’re often repetitive, high-volume, and require coordination across departments.

But the real issue isn’t just the time it takes to book them. It’s the upstream processes that create the need for manual entries in the first place.

To reduce close time:

Start with this guiding principle: Manual journal entries should almost always be a correction or an adjustment. If it is happening every month, challenge yourself to see if it can be automated.
Identify recurring entries that follow a rule. If it can be templated, it can usually be automated.
Push upstream process owners to improve inputs. Missing POs, late invoices, and incomplete data are usually what cause the need for the manual journal in the first place. A month end revenue accrual that is missing key data model elements? Work with the business to see if they can provide the necessary data required to create a direct feed to the GL.
Leverage leadership to help you make necessary changes. If they want a faster close, they need to help facilitate upstream changes with what are sometimes not-so-willing parts of the business.
Use your ERP to build rule-based automation for recurring entries.

At one of our clients we eliminated over 9,000 manual journals per year with simple automation and upstream fixes. That freed up days - not hours - of close time each month, while also improving data accuracy.

Step 2: Standardize the Close Calendar and Cadence

Many delays aren’t caused by the complexity of tasks - but by misalignment in timing, responsibilities, and expectations.

The solution? A standardized, detailed close calendar with clear owners, approvers, and due dates. It should include:

Close day cutoffs (e.g., AP by Day 2, allocations by Day 3)
Review checkpoints for leadership sign-off
Dependencies across teams (e.g., FP&A can’t forecast if accruals aren’t done)

This doesn’t just reduce surprises. It creates accountability. Everyone knows what’s due when, and who owns it. Pair this with regular “close retrospectives” to identify what went wrong and tighten the process over time.

Step 3: Streamline Account Reconciliations

Reconciliations often drag into the second or third week of the following month because they’re manual, redundant, or delayed by late entries.

To reduce the burden:

Automate reconciliations for low-risk accounts whenever you can. Most modern platforms can auto-certify accounts that haven’t changed or match system balances. Consider implementing a tool that has account reconciliation functionality if your current account software does not have the capability.
Use materiality thresholds. Don’t waste time reconciling penny differences that have no financial impact.
Integrate reconciliations into the close process. The best teams start reconciling as they close - not after.

This reduces rework and lets you close and reconcile on a compressed timeline.

We helped a recent client automate over 300 monthly account reconciliations that were previously completed using multiple reports, pivot tables, and screenshots for internal audit evidence.

Step 4: Shift Review from Reactive to Proactive

Controllers and accounting managers often spend the final days of close reviewing reports, identifying anomalies, and chasing down explanations.

But when teams are reviewing outputs after everything’s been booked, they’re always one step behind.

Instead:

Use exception-based reporting throughout the close. Flag accounts with unusual trends or threshold breaches early.
Encourage real-time validation. As entries are booked, build in checks for reasonableness.
Review pre-close trial balances on a rolling basis so that surprises are caught during the period, not during the close.

The goal is to create a process where issues surface early, and final review becomes a confirmation - not a fire drill.

Step 5: Rethink Roles - Not Just Resources

It’s tempting to think that adding more people will help reduce close time. But often, the issue isn’t headcount - it’s process.

Do your teams have the right specialization and separation of duties? Are your accountants spending time on journal entries that could be handled by automated rules, integrations, or offshore teams? Are high-skill resources bogged down in low-value tasks?

Consider:

Creating a close support function to handle repetitive tasks or preliminary reviews
Using COEs or shared services for high-volume activities like intercompany or fixed asset accounting
Create processes so that business partners (e.g., FP&A, procurement) can self-serve more of their own close inputs without needing accounting

Shifting the workload is often the key to long-term close acceleration.

What Great Looks Like

We’ve seen organizations cut their close from 10+ days to 5 or fewer without adding a single FTE. The difference wasn’t the number of people - it was the clarity of process, the discipline of execution, and the right use of technology.

And while every company’s roadmap is different, the pattern is clear: the path to faster close runs through structure, automation, and accountability - not just more effort.

Final Thoughts

A faster close isn’t just a finance goal - it’s a business enabler. It frees up time for value-added work, gives leadership earlier insight into performance, and positions finance and accounting as a strategic partner - not just a reporting function.

And the best part? You don’t need to double your headcount to get there. You just need to build smarter.

Ready to shrink your close calendar?

At Mello Consulting Group, we help companies design smarter, more agile accounting processes and implement cutting-edge solutions that drive superior business performance.