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Junior accountants are told to close the month but are not sure what the steps are or how they fit Indian statutory dates.
Close bank and cash first, then payables, receivables and statutory ledgers, then adjustments, then lock the period, all scheduled around the 7th, 11th, 15th and 20th due dates.
A close calendar with an owner per task, a cut-off rule for invoices, and a period lock in Tally or the ERP.
A locked month with reconciled balances, ready for management reporting and statutory filings.
Month-end close is the routine of finishing a month’s entries, reconciling the key accounts, passing adjustments and then locking the period so the numbers stop changing. In India the close also has to fit statutory dates: TDS deposit by the 7th, GST returns on the 11th and the 20th, and PF and ESI by the 15th.
What does a typical Indian close calendar look like?
| Working days after month end | Main work | Statutory dates in the window |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 to 3 | Download bank statements, reconcile bank and cash, apply invoice cut-off | TDS for the month deposited by the 7th (TDS for March has a later date, 30 April) |
| Day 3 to 5 | Book late supplier bills, reconcile payables and receivables, match TDS | GSTR-1 for monthly filers due by the 11th |
| Day 5 to 7 | Provisions, accruals, depreciation, stock adjustment, review | PF and ESI contributions due by the 15th |
| After lock | Management reports, GST return checks | GSTR-3B for monthly filers due by the 20th |
Businesses under the quarterly QRMP scheme have different GST dates, and the government sometimes extends dates by notification. Check the GST portal and the income tax portal for the month you are closing. Quarterly TDS returns (Form 24Q for salaries and Form 26Q for other payments) add one more date: the return for July to September is due by 31 October, so the September close in FY 2026-27 should leave the TDS ledger clean.
What are the usual steps of a month-end close, in order, and who owns each?
- Cut-off (payables and sales teams): every invoice dated in the month is booked in the month, and nothing from next month slips in.
- Bank and cash reconciliation (accounts executive): match every bank line to the books and clear unexplained items.
- Payables and receivables (AP and AR teams): book late bills, apply customer receipts to invoices, reconcile key supplier and customer balances.
- Statutory ledgers (tax team): agree TDS deducted with challans, and GST output and input ledgers with return data.
- Adjustments (senior accountant): accruals, prepaid expenses, depreciation, provisions.
- Review and lock (finance manager): review the trial balance, then lock the period in Tally or the ERP.
How is month-end close different from year-end close?
Year-end close includes everything above plus work done once a year: physical stock counts, balance confirmations from customers and suppliers, full-year provisions such as gratuity and bonus, tax audit preparation, and the financial statements the statutory auditor reviews. A clean close in March makes the year-end much shorter.
A worked example: an October close
A trading business has October sales of ₹1,20,00,000 and wants its books locked by 7 November.
Three reconciliations must finish first, because the rest of the close depends on them:
- Bank: all October receipts and payments agreed to the bank statement, so receivables and payables start from correct figures.
- Receivables: customer receipts applied to invoices, so the ₹1,20,00,000 of sales shows the right outstanding balance by customer.
- TDS: TDS deducted on October payments agreed with the challan deposited by 7 November.
If all sales carry 18 percent GST, output GST is ₹21,60,000 (18 percent of ₹1,20,00,000). That figure must agree with the GSTR-1 filed by 11 November, so the sales ledger must be final first. Locking on the 7th leaves four days to prepare and check the return, and 13 days before GSTR-3B on 20 November.
What to read next
- Why does our month-end close take so long looks at seven common causes of a slow close.
- Month-end close reconciliation checklist gives the full task list.
- Reconciliation playbook: monthly close shows the sequence day by day.
- For the bank and account reconciliation part of the close, see account reconciliation software India.