How to evaluate an accountant's sample month-end report

Before hiring an accounting provider, ask to see an anonymized monthly close packet for a business with similar transaction complexity. A blank report template shows the format. A completed example shows whether the team can explain the numbers and identify unfinished work. The provider should remove client identifiers and commercially sensitive information before sharing it.

Request the profit and loss statement, balance sheet, reconciliation summary, and open-item log together. Add a cash flow statement or cash movement schedule if it is part of the proposed engagement. You are checking the promised service, so do not mark a provider down for excluding work you have not asked it to price.

Choose a balance that looks ordinary, such as a credit card payable. Ask what statement it agrees to, which date was reconciled, and how outstanding differences were resolved. Then choose something harder: a payment processor balance, prepaid subscription, customer deposit, or loan. A useful explanation identifies the source, calculation, and person who reviewed it.

A zero reconciliation difference does not prove every transaction has the right accounting treatment. The bank may agree while a customer prepayment has been recorded as current revenue. Ask how the reviewer checks classification and timing after confirming the cash movement.

Suppose a sample shows a $2,400 payment awaiting a receipt. The useful question is whether the packet identifies its owner, age, temporary treatment, and effect on the statements. An unresolved item can be manageable when it is visible. A report marked final while the same amount sits unexplained in miscellaneous expense deserves another conversation.

Check whether the report distinguishes provisional figures from approved results. Ask what would cause a period to be reopened and how a revised report would be labeled. You should not have to compare two nearly identical PDFs to discover that last month's profit changed.

A note that payroll increased 12% merely repeats the statement. Better commentary explains whether the change came from a new hire, a bonus, a payroll timing difference, or a correction. It then identifies any question the owner needs to resolve. The provider does not need to forecast the whole company to explain a material variance.

Read the packet without the sales representative narrating it. Can you identify the entity, accounting basis, reporting dates, and remaining questions? If those basics are missing, ask for a revised sample before agreeing to the delivery format.

Write the agreed deliverables into the scope: which accounts are reconciled, which schedules are maintained, the expected delivery date, and who signs off. Include an exception process for missing information rather than a promise that every close will be perfect.

During the first month, compare the actual packet with those criteria. Record missing work by account or schedule and agree a correction date. That gives both teams a practical way to judge the engagement without relying on how polished the dashboard looks.