Continuous Accounting: Transforming the Month-End Close

As a CFO, you need timely, accurate financial data to better understand financial performance and to help drive strategic decision-making for the company. But for many finance teams, the traditional month-end close creates a recurring bottleneck that delays insights, increases stress, and limits the value accounting can deliver to the business. With top-performing teams typically needing 4-5 days to close their books, each passing day means the FP&A team loses precious time to strategize, and critical business decisions hang in limbo waiting for final numbers.

What if there was a better way? What if, in fact, we could eliminate the close altogether?

Enter continuous accounting: a mindset and methodology that's reshaping how forward-thinking finance teams approach traditional accounting operations and also bringing us closer to the elusive zero-day close.

With insights from Hillel Kramer, Controller at Click Therapeutics, and Parker Gilbert, Numeric co-founder and CEO, let’s take a look at the changes – both in mindset and tactics – that accounting teams can pursue to move toward more continuous closes.

For a full rundown on how finance teams can create continuous accounting systems, watch the full webinar here: 

What Is Continuous Accounting?

Continuous accounting is an approach to financial operations that distributes accounting tasks throughout the month rather than concentrating them into a frantic period at month-end. Some call its end product a continuous close, others a touchless close, or even the zero-day close. No matter the term, they all refer to the idea that accounting processes can be resolved in near real-time, allowing teams to provide accurate financial reporting almost instantly as opposed to at the end of the month.

"It's really about taking a step back, understanding what work is your team doing at the end of the month that's creating this crunch, and thinking about how you can transfer into more real-time, repeatable activities over the entire month," explains Hillel Kramer, Controller at Click Therapeutics. "Finding areas where real-time data is available and then transacting on it more frequently rather than just at one point at the end of the month."

This approach aligns with Parker Gilbert's perspective that continuous accounting is about "continuously getting better" rather than radically overhauling everything at once. He notes, "I don't think the goal should be kind of, if you're starting at a new company, you're starting from scratch—the goal is not next month, revamp everything and get to the end state. The goal is to continuously improve."

The Three Pillars of Continuous Accounting

Any successful continuous accounting implementation must be built on three foundational elements:

1. Repeatable processes that don't need to be reinvented every month
2. Automated workflows that reduce manual effort and human error
3. Auditable accounting systems with transparent, traceable actions
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Unlike traditional "calendar-driven" accounting where tasks are triggered because a date has arrived, continuous accounting embraces an event-driven approach where processes are initiated as underlying data changes.

Achieving a continuous close requires addressing several key challenges:

• Data complexity and cross-functional bottlenecks - Accounting teams ingest data from numerous sources they don't control, creating dependencies on sales, RevOps, vendors, and banks.
• System fragmentation and integration challenges - When systems don't communicate effectively, the manual processes needed to fill the gaps creates delays and errors.
• The trade-off between speed and accuracy - Moving fast means little to an accounting team if their underlying data is inaccurate. As finance expert and Controller at Ramp, Edwine Alphonse notes, achieving both speed and accuracy depends on ruthless operational prioritization.
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These principles of continuous accounting are necessary to keep in mind as you build toward stronger, more proactive financial management.

The Month-End Maturity Model

Most accounting teams fall somewhere on a maturity spectrum when it comes to their close process:

Ad hoc

• Manual processes and repetitive tasks are done as needed across the month
• Little to no controls in place
• A "chaotic" close that may span the entirety of the month
• No certainty on when exactly the books will be closed
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Documented

• The close process is centralized with clear steps
• Target deadlines and baseline controls implemented
• Month-end checklist is clearly documented
• Most tasks require manual data downloads and discovery work
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Automated

• Dependencies are mapped
• AI and automation heavily reduce month-end effort
• ERP integrations reduce manual data entry
• AI scans transactions and identifies drivers of change
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Proactive

• Core close steps are continuous
• Errors are proactively caught via continuous monitoring
• Real-time business insights are available
• Transactions are continuously flagged for anomalies
• The accounting team elevates key trends to leadership immediately
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The continuous close represents the most mature stage of this model—a proactive approach where finance teams have the bandwidth to provide strategic insights day-to-day rather than just historical reporting.

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Practical Examples of Continuous Accounting

Let's look at four key areas where implementing continuous processes can dramatically improve your month-end close:

1. Prepaid Amortization

Traditional approach: At month-end, teams manually review prepaid schedules, sifting through potentially hundreds of invoices eligible for prepaids. This creates bottlenecks, limits visibility, and disrupts forecasting timelines.

Continuous approach: Instead of batching at month-end, amortization is processed weekly or even daily. New additions are identified and incorporated into the amortization flow throughout the month, with entries generated automatically on a cadence—ideally via rule-based automation in a subledger.

One Numeric customer, 15Five, implemented this approach using Numeric’s Smart Subledgers and shaved at least 3 business days from their close—a 40% improvement in close efficiency.

2. Mid-Month Flux Analysis

Traditional approach: Variance analysis is typically done after the close, with manual flagging and email-based explanations that consume valuable time during the most stressful period.

Continuous approach: Teams continuously monitor cash flows and key metrics, detecting signs of delays or unusual activity early. This allows for drafting commentary ahead of month-end and identifying anomalies before they impact the close.

3. Accrual Matching

Traditional approach: Companies manually reverse and rebook accruals once invoices are received, creating redundant journal entries, rework, confusion in audit trails, and extra strain during close.

Continuous approach: Implementing a matching engine that automatically links incoming invoices to previously recorded accruals based on rules. Running this engine multiple times per month and automatically reversing accruals when matching invoices arrive transforms accrual review into a rolling process, instead of a last-minute fire drill.

4. Real-Time Monitoring for Data Integrity

Traditional approach: Waiting until period-end to review data, identifying issues after the fact, and scrambling to coordinate with stakeholders during the compressed close window.

Continuous approach: Monitoring transactions as they occur, catching miscodings early, and ensuring data quality before close activities ramp up. This results in fewer last-minute adjustments and cleaner, faster closes.

Awardco's experience demonstrates the impact new technology can have, as they’ve relied on Numeric’s Transaction Monitors for these types of checks:

"Before we had Monitors set up, we would close the books and hand things to FP&A, but then they would come back with a list of transactions needing fixes. Now, once we close, we're done. It's been a game-changer." Their team saved 4+ business days per month and increased their overall close timeline efficiency by 33%.” – Awardco Controller Ryne Fertitta

The Prerequisite: High-Quality, Timely Data

None of these continuous processes are possible without one fundamental ingredient: reliable data. The quality and availability of your financial data determine how successful your continuous accounting initiatives will be.

Three key factors to consider:

1. Continuous data enables continuous accounting - Without real-time information flows, continuous processes are impossible
2. Predictable is better than perfect - Having predictable, consistent data is more important than perfect data
3. Data control is essential - Establishing governance around how financial information is captured and processed

How to Begin Your Continuous Accounting Journey

Transforming your month-end close doesn't happen overnight. Following Nate Carbrey's (VP, Global Corporate Controller at Paddle) framework for optimizing close processes, here's how to begin:

Want to hear all of Nate’s thoughts on how to build better accounting systems? Check out his episode of Incoming Statements:

Step 1: Build a Close-Ready Finance Team

The foundation of a fast close is a well-balanced team with both accounting expertise and system-thinking skills. Without the right team composition, even the most advanced systems and processes will fall short. As Carbrey emphasizes, "I really think of it as three levels. The first is the foundational level, which is the people, the team. The second is the system layer. And the third on top of the system layer is your processes."

Step 2: Leverage Automation + AI to Eliminate Manual Work

The use cases for AI in accounting have exploded in recent years. Automated anomaly detection tools, like Numeric's Monitors, help teams flag potential errors before they impact financial statements, allowing teams to address issues as they arise rather than discovering problems during the close.

This chart depicts a series of AI use cases for teams of varying AI familiarity:

Step 3: Optimize System Integrations

Centralized ERP and financial close software eliminate reconciliation delays. As Carbrey experienced at a previous company, "We had a CRM system that was feeding into a subscription management tool, which then was feeding into QuickBooks. People would try to change the data in the subscription management system, but would forget to also go upstream to make sure the CRM system was accurate."

The solution? Direct integrations that create cleaner data flows and clarity around where data corrections should happen. For example, Numeric’s integration with NetSuite allows teams to surface all of their general ledger transactions immediately without having to go on a treasure hunt through the NetSuite platform. This helps in particular with processes like account reconciliations, where identifying discrepancies between your books and the GL can be time-consuming.

Step 4: Move Tasks to the Pre-Close Period

Identify which tasks don't need month-end data to complete. Recurring fixed expenses, payroll accruals, and preliminary reconciliations can often be prepared in advance. By building these into regular weekly workflows rather than month-end sprints, teams can substantially reduce their close timeline.

To get started more specifically:

1. Focus on one high-friction, repetitive workflow - Identify a single process that causes significant pain each month
2. Look for areas where data is already reliable and frequent - Start with processes where you already have good data
3. Don't let perfect be the enemy of progress - Aim for improvement, not perfection
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The ideal target isn't necessarily an immediate zero-day close but rather a scenario where 60-80% of accounting work is completed before month-end, with the remaining 20-40% able to be completed in a single day.

The Evolving Accounting Team

As automation becomes more central to accounting, the required skillset for finance professionals is evolving. Forward-thinking teams are bringing in data engineering expertise to help automate key workflows.

Hillel Kramer shared how his team at Click Therapeutics brought in a consulting data engineer specifically to help automate key workflows one at a time. When interviewing candidates, he asks: "Give me an example of a time where you inherited a 10-year-old Excel file and you had to blow it up, recreate it outside of Excel." The response reveals whether someone has the mindset for continuous improvement.

These efforts reflect a candidate’s desire to build a culture where continuous improvement is part of the job.

Tools to Move Closer to Continuous Accounting

Our goal at Numeric is to build the first real-time accounting platform – an effort that may begin with a focus on managing the close, but extends to developing a comprehensive solution for a range of accounting needs. As mentioned above, a continuous close can only be achieved with extensive cross-functional collaboration and systems integration. To that end, we feel that the future of accounting is one where accounting, as we know it today, happens at the conception of any transaction – and tools that are comprehensive enough to fold the many processes behind that event into one will move the field forward.

As of today, here are Numeric features that leverage AI and automation in ways that can deliver real-time financial comprehension for finance teams:

• Set-up ongoing transaction monitoring: With Monitors, you can flexibly set-up ongoing alerts to catch errors ahead of month-end account reconciliations.
• Use AI to get a headstart on flux analysis: Numeric can catch drivers of variance in your accounts instantly, almost like having an AI assistant working 24/7 for your accounting team.
• Sync your ERP to Numeric for real-time transaction clarity: With a continuous transaction sync that pulls in your chart of accounts along with any transaction that hits your GL, you can identify which transactions are keeping accounts from tying out.
• Use Smart Subledgers to automate workpapers: Numeric's Smart Subledgers eliminate the inefficiencies of spreadsheets by automating schedule creation for workflows like prepaid expense tracking.
• Automate your reconciliations: Handle all your balance sheet recs in one spot as Numeric automatically pulls in and compares account totals from your workpapers and your GL's trial balance. Numbers match up? You can auto-submit those recs with ease, and if not, Numeric will show which transactions are causing accounts to not tie out.

Looking to the Future

The continuous close isn't just an aspirational concept—it's increasingly becoming reality for innovative finance teams. As AI and automation technologies continue to advance, we're likely to see even more opportunities to streamline financial processes.

In the words of Parker Gilbert, "This isn't about perfection. It's about building a more resilient, efficient system—one that works continuously, not just in a burst at month-end."

By transforming your approach to the month-end close, you not only improve efficiency and accuracy but also create space for finance to provide the strategic insights your business needs to thrive.