The AR Side of Close,
Done by the 2nd.
Billing complete, cash applied, exceptions resolved, and AR reconciled to the ledger — continuously through the month, so close is a checklist, not an excavation.
Close as excavation vs close as checklist
When AR runs manually, close is where a month of small gaps comes due at once.
Without automation
- Day 1-2: find the invoices that never got sent
- Day 2-3: apply a month of unmatched payments
- Day 3-4: chase down unexplained credits and short-pays
- AR subledger and GL reconciled by tired people at 9 PM
- Close stretches to day 7 and everyone dreads it
With LedgerUp
- Billing is complete because it ran at contract signature, all month
- Cash was applied the day it landed — nothing accumulates for close
- Exceptions were flagged and worked in-month, not discovered at close
- AR reconciles continuously — close verifies, it doesn’t fix
- The AR side of close drops to hours
How close automation works
Close gets fast when the month stays clean. Ari keeps the month clean.
Billing completeness, verified continuously
Every signed contract has its invoices generated on schedule — Ari tracks contracted-but-unbilled as a live metric, so “did we bill everything?” is answered before close asks it.
Cash application that never backs up
Payments match to invoices the day they land, including partial payments and FX differences. The unapplied-cash account that normally eats a close day stays near zero all month.
Exceptions worked in-month
Short-pays, disputes, and billing corrections were flagged when they happened and carry their resolution trail. Close inherits documented exceptions, not mysteries.
Close runs as verification
At close, Ari produces the AR close package: subledger-to-GL reconciliation, aging with exception annotations, unbilled revenue, and credit activity with approvals attached. Your team reviews and signs off instead of rebuilding.
Works with your existing stack
LedgerUp connects to the tools you already use — no migration required.
Close use cases
What a clean month does to close week.
Five-Day Close to Two-Day Close
Teams that automate billing and cash application typically cut the AR portion of close from multiple days to a same-day verification pass.
A controller’s close checklist item “reconcile AR” goes from a two-day task to a one-hour review of Ari’s reconciliation package.
Audit-Season Close
When auditors sample from close packages, every number traces: invoices to contracts, applications to payments, credits to approvals. PBC requests get answered from the record.
An auditor samples ten Q3 credit memos; each carries its trigger, math, and approver — the request closes in a day.
Multi-Entity Close
Per-entity ledgers stay independently clean, so entity closes run in parallel instead of serially — and consolidation starts from reconciled parts.
US and EU entities each produce their own AR close package; consolidated close starts from two clean inputs.
Close is downstream of everything
Fast closes are earned during the month, one automated workflow at a time.
Cash application
The single biggest close accelerant: cash applied same-day, all month.
See cash applicationCredit memos
Credits with reasons and approvals attached — no unexplained entries at close.
See credit memo automationAging & ARR reporting
The live reporting that makes close numbers boring — in the good way.
See AR reportingMonth-end close FAQ
Common questions about automating the AR close with LedgerUp.
How much close time does this actually save?
The AR-dependent portion — billing completeness, cash application, exception cleanup, subledger reconciliation — typically drops from 2-4 days to hours, because the work happened continuously during the month. Customers report saving 30-40 hours of manual AR work monthly, and much of that lands at close.
What’s in the AR close package?
Subledger-to-GL reconciliation, the aging report with exceptions annotated, contracted-but-unbilled revenue, credit memo activity with approvals, and unapplied cash (usually near zero). Exportable, with drill-down to source documents.
How does continuous reconciliation work?
Every transaction Ari touches posts to your ledger as it happens — invoices, applications, credits — so the subledger and GL never drift far apart. Discrepancies flag when they’re one transaction old, not one month old.
Does this handle accruals and deferred revenue?
LedgerUp maintains the billing-side records that revenue schedules build on — what was billed, when, against which contract terms. For the full recognition treatment, see the revenue recognition solution; the two work together at close.
What does my team still do at close?
Judgment work: reviewing the package, deciding on flagged exceptions, signing off on reconciliations, and handling the genuinely unusual. What disappears is the excavation — finding unsent invoices, applying old payments, explaining mystery credits.
Which ledgers does close automation support?
QuickBooks, NetSuite, Sage Intacct, and Xero, in single or multi-entity configurations.