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Finance agent

Close checklist

Your close checklist, kept for you: each task with its owner, its due day and the evidence that shows it’s done. Owners get the nudges, and the controller sees anything that’s stuck.

  • $12,500 fixed
  • Live in 3 to 6 weeks
  • Yours to keep
Let’s build your agent How it works
The review screen for Close checklist: four items, three done, and one (A day late) waiting for the controller, who is asked: Fixed assets rec is a day late and its owner is out. Move it to the senior accountant?
How it works

Ticked isn’t done. Done means the evidence is filed.

Here’s a typical run, step by step: what automation handles, what the agent does, and the calls that stay with your team.

The workflow for Close checklist, in 5 steps. It starts with “The month ends” and ends with “A close with proof on file”. Each step lists what automation, the agent and your team do there.
Close checklistA typical run
Starts withThe month endsYour close calendar starts on the last day of the month, with task owners, due days and reviewers set.
Automation: Copies your close template for September: 124 tasks, each with its owner, its reviewer and a due day in business days.
~4h/mo

Step 1 of 5Set up the month

  • Automation

    Copies your close template for September: 124 tasks, each with its owner, its reviewer and a due day in business days.

    The template, the owners and the calendar are all known before the month ends.

Reads
  • Close checklist
Writes
  • Close checklist

~4 hours a month back

Where teams differPlenty of teams close in five business days. Others take ten, or run a lighter close outside quarter-end.

Automation: Looks for what each task leaves behind: a posted entry, a tied reconciliation, a depreciation run.
The agent: Opens the workpaper someone attached and checks it’s this month’s, it ties to the ledger, and the reviewer has signed.
~18h/mo

Step 2 of 5Watch for the evidence

  • Automation

    Looks for what each task leaves behind: a posted entry, a tied reconciliation, a depreciation run.

    Whether an entry posted or a reconciliation tied is a lookup in the system that holds it.

  • The agent

    Opens the workpaper someone attached and checks it’s this month’s, it ties to the ledger, and the reviewer has signed.

    A file called “Sept rec final v2” could still be August’s. Knowing takes opening it.

Reads
  • General ledger
  • Shared drive
Writes
  • Close checklist

~18 hours a month back

Where teams differEvidence differs from team to team: a signed workpaper for some, a report or a screenshot for others.

The agent: Writes to the owner of each task past its due day, naming what’s missing, and notes replies like “waiting on the bank statement”.
~10h/mo

Step 3 of 5Nudge what’s late

  • The agent

    Writes to the owner of each task past its due day, naming what’s missing, and notes replies like “waiting on the bank statement”.

    “Waiting on the lender until Tuesday” is a reason and a date. Reading it keeps the list honest.

Reads
  • Close checklist
Writes
  • Team chat

~10 hours a month back

Automation: Sends the controller any late task that others wait on, like the fixed assets rec with its owner out until Monday.
IfYour team: Moves the fixed assets rec to the senior accountant, or pushes its due day and lets the tasks behind it know.
~6h/mo

Step 4 of 5Unstick the late one

  • Automation

    Sends the controller any late task that others wait on, like the fixed assets rec with its owner out until Monday.

    Which tasks wait on which is set in your template, so the ones that matter are known.

  • Your teamIf a task holds up others

    Moves the fixed assets rec to the senior accountant, or pushes its due day and lets the tasks behind it know.

    Moving work between people, or moving a close date, is the controller’s call.

Reads
  • Close checklist
Writes
  • Close checklist

~6 hours a month back

Automation: Saves each finished task with its evidence and sign-off in the close folder, where the auditors’ requests can start.
~8h/mo

Step 5 of 5Keep the close file

  • Automation

    Saves each finished task with its evidence and sign-off in the close folder, where the auditors’ requests can start.

    Filing a finished task with its proof is the same step for all 124.

Reads
  • Close checklist
Writes
  • Shared drive

~8 hours a month back

Ends withA close with proof on fileEvery task done with its evidence and sign-off attached, in one folder for the controller and the auditors.
Total~46h/mo

What changes

The close runs from one list that updates as work lands in the ledger. Owners get nudged by name, and the controller steps in only when a late task holds up others.

  • 4steps automated
  • 2steps for the agent
  • 1call kept with your team

Pick any step to see what happens there and why it sits in that lane.

What it could be worth

~46 hours a month back

$34,200 a year in time

For an accounting team working through about 120 close tasks a month, at $62 an hour. We work out yours from your own volumes before you sign.

Let’s build your agent
What we customize with you

One proven agent, plugged into how you work.

Every team does this job a little differently, so we set these five with the people who do it today. We’ve done this in dozens of businesses, so we know where teams usually differ and ask about those first.

The agent

Same for every client
  • Follows the same proven steps
  • A person on every exception
  • Every decision logged
  • Tested on your past work first
  • Never signs off a task for anyone

  1. Your systems

    Where the work comes in, and where the result goes.

    For this agentYour close checklist, with your ledger and reconciliation files as the evidence.

  2. Your rules

    The limits and exceptions it works to.

    For this agentDue days for each task, what counts as evidence, and which tasks need a reviewer.

  3. Your team

    Who signs off, and who covers when they’re away.

    For this agentThe controller for anything late, each task’s reviewer for the sign-off.

  4. Your channels

    Where your team hears from it.

    For this agentSlack or Teams for nudges, a close status email each morning.

  5. Your output

    What it hands back, in the format you already use.

    For this agentA checklist with every task’s evidence linked, ready for the auditors.

Tying accounts every day and explaining variances to budget are other agents in the catalog. Posting entries and signing off the close stay with your team.

What you get

The agent, and everything that keeps it working.

  • The agentRunning on your systems, under your rules.
  • The review screenWhere the exceptions land for your controller and accounting team.
  • Your rulebookYour limits, exceptions and who signs off, in one place, often for the first time.
  • A test reportYour past close tasks, run through it and checked against the number.
  • The runbookHow it works, what to check, and what to do if it stops.
  • 30 days of tuningAfter it goes live, through a full month of your real close tasks.
The number we agree

Business days from month-end to the books being closed. We measure it before we start, and again at day 30.

How we get there

Live in 3 to 6 weeks. About seven hours of your time.

We do the building. Your side: access, your close checklist and the last three closes, and a short weekly check-in.

  1. Before kickoff

    We send the access checklist.

    You, 2 hours. Access, an owner, and your close checklist and the last three closes.

  2. Weeks 1 to 2

    We connect your systems and set it up.

    You, 1 hour. Walk us through your rules.

  3. Weeks 2 to 4

    We test it on your past close tasks.

    You, 1 hour. Review what it flagged.

  4. Weeks 3 to 6

    It runs beside your team, then goes live.

    You, 1¼ hours. Work from the review screen.

Then 30 days of tuning, with a short check-in each week, about two hours of yours. At day 30 we show you the number and hand everything over.

After it’s live

It keeps running whether or not we stay.

  • It runs in your accounts

    Your cloud, your systems, and an AI account in your name, billed by the provider at their rates.

  • Changes in the first 30 days are included

    A new rule, a changed limit, someone new signing off. That’s what tuning is for.

  • After that, your call

    Your team edits the rulebook, the care plan covers it, or a bigger change is quoted first.

Questions

About this agent.

Do we need a new close tool?
No. It works from the checklist you already keep, a spreadsheet or a close tool, and reads the evidence from your ledger and shared drive.
What counts as evidence?
Whatever you say it is: a tied reconciliation, a posted entry, a signed workpaper. A task without it stays open, even if someone has ticked it.
Will it post any entries?
No. It tracks and nudges. Entries and sign-offs stay with the people who own them.
Our process isn’t quite like this. Will it still work?
That’s the usual case. The job looks the same in most businesses, but the details never do. We map how your team does it today, then set the rules, systems and approvals to match. That’s what most of the 3 to 6 weeks are for.
How do we agree the number?
Together, before any work starts. For this agent it’s the business days from month-end to the books being closed. We measure it before we start, and again at day 30.
What does it cost to run once it’s live?
Hosting and AI, paid straight to the providers, not through us. It usually runs 5x to 25x cheaper than doing the same work by hand, and we work out your figure from your real volumes before you sign.

Where does your close usually get stuck?

Tell us how your team handles close tasks today. We’ll show you this agent on examples like yours, and whether it fits the fixed price.

Let’s build your agentBack to Finance
New to Switchboard Agents? How it works, what’s included, and what it costs.
  • 3 to 6 weeksto live, then 30 days of tuning
  • $12,500fixed, per agent
  • Yours to keepno license fees
See the service
Switchboard Agents$12,500 fixed · live in 3 to 6 weeks How it works Let’s build your agent