Rafael Moreno
CPA
⚠️The Problem
"Month end is a war zone," Rafael said. Every month, the same nightmare: 50+ clients who needed to submit receipts, invoices, and bank statements. His team sent initial requests, then follow up emails, then phone calls. Some clients responded immediately. Others took weeks. Meanwhile, Rafael's accountants could not close the books until every document was in.
The industry standard is 5 to 7 days for month end close. Rafael's firm was averaging 14 to 21 days. His senior accountants were spending hours chasing documents instead of doing actual accounting work. And when unusual transactions appeared, they often got missed in the chaos until someone noticed weeks later.
The Month End Grind:
- • 14 to 21 days to close books (should be 5 to 7 days)
- • 50+ email threads per client, "Did you send the receipts yet?"
- • Manual spreadsheet tracking of who submitted what
- • Exception handling ate senior accountant time
- • Team burnout from repetitive follow-ups
🔄How We Cut Close Time in Half
We sat down with Rafael's team during month end close. Watched them work for half a day. The pattern was obvious: same questions, same documents, same reminder emails, just copy paste with different client names. "How do you know who to chase?" we asked. They pointed at a shared Excel spreadsheet.
Month End Close Timeline
BEFORE: 14 to 21 Days
Manual document chasing, email threads, spreadsheet tracking
95% on time submission, 40+ hours saved per month
Automated reminders and smart escalation cut close time from 14 to 21 days to 7 days
We built reminders that send automatically 5 days before month end, then 3 days, then 1 day. If a client does not respond after three attempts, it escalates to their account manager, no manual tracking needed. The system knows who submitted what, flags missing documents, and even detects unusual transactions based on historical patterns.
Standard transactions? They reconcile automatically through the accounting software integration. Exceptions get flagged for review. Four weeks later, Rafael's close time dropped to 7 days, right in line with industry standards.
⚙️The Automation System
Now document requests go out automatically at day -5, -3, and -1. Non responders escalate to account managers after three attempts. AI flags unusual transactions for review based on each client's historical patterns. Standard transactions reconcile automatically through their accounting software. The team sees everything in a real time dashboard, no more spreadsheets.
Scheduled Reminders
Automated emails at day -5, -3, -1 with personalized document lists
Smart Escalation
Non responders escalate to account manager after 3 attempts
Exception Detection
AI flags unusual transactions based on historical patterns
Auto Reconciliation
Standard transactions reconciled automatically via software integration
📈The Results
Month-end close went from 14-21 days to just 7 days, freeing up 40+ hours per month that the team now spends on higher-value advisory services.
Business Impact:
The time savings allowed Rafael to take on 8 new clients without hiring additional staff, generating $120K in additional annual revenue.
"I'd recommend Dave in a heartbeat. His automations collect client documents, remind people nicely, and flag exceptions so month-end actually ends."
— Rafael Moreno, CPA
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