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Aim for an hour of bookkeeping each month, while the transactions still look familiar, instead of a week hunting through old emails in January. A short, regular review gives you a manageable list of missing documents and questions to resolve before the year end.
This month end close checklist is for a UK limited company run by one director: a consultant, a freelancer trading through a company or a small online shop. Work through it in order, then keep the completed checklist with the month’s records. Treat the hour as a planning target; chasing a supplier may take longer.
The aim is to leave each transaction matched, explained or clearly marked for follow-up. You do not have to settle an unfamiliar tax question to record what happened and give your accountant the evidence.
Before you start: what you need open
Open your bookkeeping records alongside your bank and card feeds or statements. Have Wise or Revolut records, Stripe or PayPal reports, marketplace statements and your receipts inbox ready where relevant. Use the same month throughout, and keep the previous month’s unresolved items within reach.
A company’s finances must be separate from those of its owners and directors. A business bank account is the simplest way to maintain that separation, as explained in the company and accounting records guidance.
Prepare a place for statements, invoices, receipts and questions. Give files recognisable names so you can find the document behind a payment without opening every attachment. Keep personally paid company costs identifiable throughout the review.
The month end close checklist
1. Bring every account up to date
Start with the company bank account, then work through cards, Wise or Revolut, payment providers and marketplaces. Check that each feed reaches the end of the month. An empty transaction list deserves a check against the statement before you mark the account complete.
Connect your accounts during the initial setup so the routine starts with current transactions. For older periods that need importing, follow the guide to connecting Wise and adding older history with CSV. Check where existing history stops before adding a file.
Compare the closing balance in your records with the statement balance for the same date. If they differ, investigate missing entries, duplicates and transfers. Keep a note of the difference and the account involved rather than forcing a match. Mark this step complete when every account is checked or its outstanding problem is recorded.
2. Match each payment to its invoice or receipt
Work down the transactions and attach the supporting document. Compare the supplier or customer, amount, date and description. Where a payment covers several documents, keep the allocation visible so your accountant can follow the total.
Do not accept a suggested match solely because the amounts agree. Open the document and check what it covers. A familiar supplier name can hide a different purchase, and a bank description may not resemble the name on the invoice.
When an invoice and receipt arrive for the same purchase, keep them connected to the same transaction. The guide to handling two documents for the same payment explains the matching workflow. Finish with a clearly identified list of transactions that still need evidence.
3. Chase or replace what is missing
Search your inbox by supplier name, amount and the wording on the bank line. Check archived emails and attachments, then visit the supplier’s billing portal. Download the document and attach it to the transaction while the payment is open.
If the document is unavailable, ask the supplier for a copy. Record the request beside the transaction so you do not repeat the search next month. The help article on a payment with no invoice provides a practical starting point.
Where there genuinely is no receipt, write a factual note: what was bought, who was paid, when, how much and the business purpose. Keep any available supporting correspondence and flag the item for your accountant. Use the note to explain the gap; leave questions about tax treatment for review.
4. Deal with personal spending and the director’s loan account
Review payments involving you personally. Mark company purchases paid from your own card, any repayments to you and personal purchases made using company funds. Keep the direction of the payment clear: money owed to the director and money owed by the director need separate attention.
Money taken from the company that is not salary, dividends, expense repayments or money previously paid in is a director’s loan. Record borrowing from, and money paid into, the company in the director’s loan account, following the director’s loans guidance.
For a personally paid company purchase, attach the receipt and identify the payment source. Check whether you have already recorded or been repaid for it. In the example below, the software purchase increases what the company owes the director by £86.40. Keep the other personally paid costs visible too, rather than treating that software amount as the entire balance.
5. Check sales and payouts gross, not net
Open the payment-provider or marketplace statement alongside the bank deposit. Trace the payout back to the customer sales and examine the fees, refunds and other deductions shown in the report. Keep that breakdown with the payment.
Compare gross customer sales with the net amount arriving in the bank. Record the components separately in your working papers so your accountant can see how the payout was calculated. Avoid using the deposit alone as the description of the month’s sales.
Match refunds back to the original sale and keep the explanation nearby. If a provider still holds money at month end, identify that balance in your review. Leave an unexplained difference on the questions list with the relevant statement attached.
6. Look at VAT if you are registered
Review the VAT information alongside the documents you have gathered. Flag missing invoices, unclear entries and refunds for your accountant. Where the treatment is uncertain, write down the transaction and the question instead of choosing a category simply to clear the list.
VAT returns are usually quarterly. The usual online filing deadline is one calendar month and 7 days after the period ends, according to the VAT return guidance. Check your actual return period and deadline when updating the calendar.
Keep unresolved VAT questions together with the supporting documents. This gives your accountant a focused review list before the return is prepared.
7. Note the dates coming up
Review your VAT return, Corporation Tax, annual accounts, Company Tax Return and confirmation statement reminders. Beside each, note what you still need to supply and who is handling the next action.
Annual accounts are due at Companies House 9 months after the financial year ends; first accounts are due 21 months after registration. Corporation Tax payment is due 9 months and 1 day after the accounting period ends, and the Company Tax Return is due 12 months after that period ends. These are the standard accounts and tax deadlines.
File a confirmation statement at least once every 12 months, with up to 14 days after the review period ends to submit it. Check its own review period using the confirmation statement guidance.
For private companies, Companies House late accounts penalties are £150 up to 1 month late, £375 for more than 1 to 3 months, £750 for more than 3 to 6 months and £1,500 for more than 6 months. They double if accounts are late 2 years running. See the late filing penalty bands.
8. Send or file the month for your accountant
Gather the checked statements, matched invoices and receipts, payout breakdowns and director’s loan account notes. Include the missing-document list and any unresolved balance differences. Use the folder or sharing method agreed with your accountant.
Add a short handover note describing what remains open and what you have already tried. Name the supplier and transaction, rather than writing only “receipt missing”. If you are filing the month for later review, leave the same note for your future self.
Mark the checklist with its review date and carry unresolved items into the next review. Keep subsequent answers with the original transactions so the explanation remains easy to find.
Billfetch does steps 1 to 3 for you: it pulls in bank, card and marketplace lines, matches them to invoices from your inbox, and gives you a short list of what is still missing. See how it connects.
A worked month
Consider an illustrative October for a design consultancy run by one director. Its review contains 42 lines across company bank activity and personally paid company purchases. The personal-card purchases belong in the review, but are not payments from the company bank account.
| Group | Lines | What happens during the review |
|---|---|---|
| Payments with documents ready | 31 | Match each payment to its invoice or receipt. |
| Card payments missing receipts | 7 | Find 5 receipts in supplier emails and download 2 from supplier portals. |
| Company purchases on the director’s personal card | 3 | Attach the evidence and record the amounts owed to the director, including £86.40 for software. |
| Client refund | 1 | Match the £250.00 refund to the original sales invoice. |
| Total review lines | 42 | 31 + 7 + 3 + 1 = 42. |
The software purchase means the company owes the director £86.40 more through the director’s loan account. That is the increase from the software alone; the example does not specify the amounts of the other personally paid purchases or the opening balance.
At handover, the recovered receipts sit beside their payments, the refund links to its sale, and the personal-card costs are clearly identified. The accountant can follow the evidence without guessing which account paid for the software.
The annual dates for a 31 December year end
For a company with a 31 December 2025 year end, assuming its Corporation Tax accounting period ends on that date and these are not its first accounts, the standard timetable is:
| Action | Deadline | Official guidance |
|---|---|---|
| File annual accounts with Companies House | 30 September 2026 | Annual accounts deadline |
| Pay Corporation Tax | 1 October 2026 | Corporation Tax payment deadline |
| File the Company Tax Return | 31 December 2026 | Company Tax Return deadline |
Keep each action as a separate calendar entry. Check the company’s own VAT periods and confirmation statement review period before adding those reminders; this year-end date alone does not provide them.
General information, not advice. This is general information about UK rules at the time of writing, not advice for your circumstances. Check the linked gov.uk guidance or speak to an accountant about your situation.
