Your first month-end close after raising funding

The first close after a raise should explain exactly what arrived in the bank. Match each receipt to the investor, signed agreement, receiving entity, currency, and settlement date. Keep an exception list for committed funds that have not arrived, wire fees deducted in transit, and payments received under a different investor name.

Financing proceeds are not customer revenue. Have the accountant assess the instrument and its terms before selecting the balance sheet treatment. A priced equity round, a loan, and a SAFE can require different analysis; the bank description alone cannot settle the classification.

Collect legal bills, platform charges, filing fees, and other invoices associated with the raise. Tag them to the financing event without assuming every cost receives the same accounting or tax treatment. Separate unrelated legal work on a combined invoice where the supporting detail allows it.

Ask the accountant to document material judgments and retain the resulting schedule. If a bill arrives after the funding closes, it still needs to be considered for the appropriate reporting period. Paying it next month does not automatically make it next month's cost under accrual accounting.

A bank balance enlarged by funding is not an operating forecast. Update planned hiring dates, recruitment fees, equipment, annual software renewals, tax payments, and any commitments made during the raise. Keep expected future financing separate from cash already available.

For an illustrative starting point, $1.2 million of available cash divided by $100,000 of monthly net cash use gives twelve months at an unchanged pace. If two planned hires add $25,000 a month, the simple result falls to 9.6 months before one-time costs. A dated cash forecast is more useful when spending is changing this quickly.

Agree the reporting period, entity coverage, accounting basis, and investor metrics before sending the first packet. Include the financial statements and a short explanation of the financing movement so nobody confuses the larger cash balance with better operating performance.

Reconcile any revenue metric in the investor update to its underlying source. Bookings, annual recurring revenue, recognized revenue, and cash collections can all be useful, but they answer different questions. Label them and document the calculation rather than placing several versions under the heading revenue.

Assign owners for the financing register, cap table documents, recurring close, and investor reporting calendar. Confirm that legal and accounting records reflect the same completed transactions, and flag any pending signature or receipt rather than treating the round as one undifferentiated total.

Save the approved first report with its supporting schedules. Future updates should start from that version and explain subsequent corrections, so the company can answer a diligence request without reconstructing the month when the money arrived.