How to plan a year-end close timeline with a Gantt chart
Plan the year-end or monthly financial close in working days: cut-offs, subledger close, reconciliations, accruals, review and the audit hand-off, with the dependencies that set the finish date.
A close calendar lists due dates. A Gantt chart shows what each date waits for. This guide turns a close checklist into a dated plan in working days, so you can see which task sets the finish date and what a late reconciliation costs.
The short version
- Treat the cut-off and the subledger close as milestones that other tasks wait for, not as dates in a list.
- Run payables, receivables and fixed assets in parallel and join them at one milestone.
- Use start-to-start with a lag for work that genuinely overlaps, such as intercompany matching beside accruals.
- Plan the audit hand-off while the statements are still in review, not after sign-off.
- Compare the finish date with the date you need; the schedule does not make the numbers right or compliant.
From a close checklist to a close timeline
Most finance teams already have a close checklist: tasks, owners and a due day. The checklist is a good record and a poor forecast. It treats "day 3" and "day 5" as facts, when they are results of what each task waits for. If accounts payable closes a day late, the checklist cannot tell you which later tasks move and which do not.
The method is to convert the checklist into three things: a length in working days for each task, a list of what it waits for, and a handful of milestones that mark the points other people care about. Cut-off, subledgers closed, trial balance final and statements approved are the usual four. Everything between them is a task with a dependency. Once those are entered, the dates are calculated and the chain that sets the finish is visible.
Three kinds of dependency do most of the work in a close. Finish-to-start covers the hard gates, such as reconciliations waiting for closed subledgers. Start-to-start with a lag covers overlaps, such as intercompany matching beginning a day after accruals begin. A milestone with several incoming links covers joins, such as subledgers closed waiting for payables, receivables and fixed assets. See /guides/gantt-chart-dependencies and /guides/gantt-chart-milestones for the mechanics.
A schedule does not make the numbers right, and it takes no position on an accounting standard or a statutory deadline. It shows when the work is planned to happen. The example below builds the year-end close template in stages, with illustrative durations. For the process view, see /templates/month-end-close-process, /templates/account-reconciliation-process and /templates/bank-reconciliation-process.
A year-end close, built in stages
Nineteen tasks in four phases. Durations are illustrative working days; set your own. Open the spreadsheet panel to see the rows behind each stage.
Cut-off and the subledgers
"Publish close calendar and cut-off dates" takes 2 working days and leads to the "Cut-off date reached" milestone. "Close accounts payable" (3), "Close accounts receivable" (3) and "Close fixed assets and inventory" (4) then run side by side, and "Subledgers closed" waits for all three.
Reconciliations, accruals and the trial balance
"Bank and balance sheet reconciliations" (5 days) and "Accruals and prepayments" (4) follow "Subledgers closed". "Intercompany matching and eliminations" starts one working day after accruals start. "Post adjusting entries" waits for all three and "Trial balance final" follows.
Review and approval
"Draft financial statements" takes 4 days. "Variance and flux review" starts two working days after it starts, and "Management review and sign-off" (2 days) waits for the draft and the review. The "Financial statements approved" milestone follows.
Audit hand-off
"Prepare audit support schedules" (5 days) starts one working day after "Draft financial statements" starts. "Auditor fieldwork and queries" (8 days) waits for approval and the schedules, then "Archive close file and lessons learned" and "Year-end close complete" finish the plan.
How it works
Turn the checklist into tasks with lengths
Take each checklist line and give it a length in whole working days. If a task takes half a day, round up or merge it with its neighbour; QueryChart has no hours or half days.
Mark the milestones first
Add the points others rely on as 0-day tasks: cut-off, subledgers closed, trial balance final, statements approved. Link the tasks that feed each one to it.
Write what each task waits for
Fill in Depends on. Use finish-to-start by default, start-to-start with a lag, for example 8SS+1, for real overlaps, and keep the number of overlaps small so each one can be defended.
Group by phase and add owners
Group tasks into phases such as Prepare, Close the books, Review and Audit. Put the owner in People so the chart shows who is due to do what.
Find the task that sets the date
Switch on View, Critical path to light the chain that decides the finish date. Compare the finish date with the date you need; if it is later, shorten something on that chain.
Share it and reuse it next period
Share the chart, update progress as tasks finish and export a PDF for the close file. Next month, duplicate the chart and shorten the durations for a monthly close.
Mistakes to avoid
Scheduling reconciliations before the subledgers are closed
If reconciliations start on a calendar date rather than after the closed-subledgers milestone, a late subledger turns them into rework. Make the dependency explicit.
Planning the audit hand-off for the day after sign-off
Support schedules take time. Start them while the statements are still in review, as the example does, so the auditors are not waiting on your own preparation.
Counting weekends and holidays
QueryChart schedules Monday to Friday and has no holiday calendar. If a public holiday falls inside a task, add a working day to its duration.
Reading the chart as a statement of compliance
A plan with every task on time says the work was scheduled and done. It does not say the balances are right or that any standard or deadline is met.
Open the year-end close Gantt chart
Open the year-end close template, change the durations to yours and see when the close finishes.
Related guides
Frequently asked questions
Can I use the same chart for a monthly close?
Yes. Keep the structure and shorten the durations. Most monthly closes have no audit phase, so delete it or keep it for the quarter.
How do I show a fixed deadline?
Pin a Start on a task only where a date is genuinely fixed. A fixed start that conflicts with a dependency is flagged, and you can compare the finish date with the date you need.
Can I import our close checklist from Excel?
Copy the rows and paste them into the sheet. If the first line names columns such as Task, Duration and Depends on, each column is matched by name. There is no file upload for Gantt charts yet.
Does the chart track planned against actual dates?
No. QueryChart does not keep a baseline. Export a PDF of the plan before you change it if you want to compare later.
Where is the process behind the close?
In the flowchart templates. See /templates/month-end-close-process for the steps and decisions and /templates/financial-reporting-process for reporting.
