A common challenges for the controller role is in closing the month-end and period-end books in preparation to issue financial statements. This duty requires precision, timing and efficiency. The closing process has traditionally been a slow one with many companies taking two weeks to close its subsidiary’s books and another two to three weeks to roll up and consolidated the results. In today’s face paced digital world, much has been done to help accelerate that process with integrated enterprise resource planning systems and general ledger and consolidate software. Within this session we will discuss the many facets involved in closing the books and provide insights into expediting the process in order to be able to create more timely financial statements. Typical steps in the accounting close process include: o Analysis of business transactions o Make JE’s o Post to Ledger Accounts o Prepare trial balance o Make adjusting entries o Prepare adjusted trial balance o Prepare financial statements o Close accounts o Prepare post-closing trial balance Within this segment we will discuss the elements of the financial close and also important concepts to assist the controller in accelerating their close timeline. This includes address all functional areas of the close including payroll, invoicing, payables, inventory, cash, and the general ledger. We will also discuss important concepts of ensuring your financial close is accurate by discussing bank reconciliations, overhead allocations, bad debt reserves, unpaid wages and accruals for vacation time, account reconciliations, deprecation and overall financial statement review. Field of Study: Accounting