Five Ways to Shorten Month-End Close for SaaS Companies

1. Straight Through Processing of New Customer Orders to Billing 

If new customer contracts need to be manually keyed into the billing system each month, the finance team will take longer to close the books.  Manual billing processes also delay invoicing, which delays cash flow.

Disconnected systems are one of the most common sources of delays in billing processes. Connect your billing system to the upstream applications that collect new customer subscriptions, like your CRM and your SaaS product:

• Details from new self-service (PLG) customers should be added to auto-pay lists
• Sales-led customer contracts should be automatically fed to billing when the AE hits “closed-won”
• New customers acquired by channel partners should be 

2. Automate Revenue Recognition

Tracking deferred revenue in a spreadsheet works fine when you are small, but it doesn’t scale once you acquire more customers and introduce more complex contracts. One typo, one delayed renewal, and now you’re restating revenue.  Instead of using spreadsheets, automate the calculation of deferred revenue schedules and the creation of journal entries with a commercial revenue recognition system to:

• Auto-generate deferred revenue entries as invoices go out
• Automatically revise schedules for contract modifications
• Handle usage-based, milestone, and ratable models with built-in logic

This alone can reclaim days from your close calendar. And it beats error-prone manual rework by a long shot.

3. Reconcile Continuously (Not Just at Month End)

• Don’t wait for the month-end to check your numbers.  Seek out visibility to revenue, expenses, and cash flow at intervals throughout the month to identify problems early: Set automated alerts for common exception scenarios such as: GL mismatches, missing usage data, or CRM contract sync failures
• Compare recognized to billed revenue mid-cycle
• Flag anomalies as compared to the trailing twelve months
  

The longer you wait to reconcile, the messier the fix. Continuous cleanup keeps close from becoming a scramble.

4. Standardize Close Procedures with Documented Playbooks

Many small companies rely on the institutional knowledge of a handful of employees to perform month-end close.  That approach is great when you are small, but it breaks down as employees turn over or go on PTO. Build a repeatable playbook:

• Validation checklists for invoices, contracts, and amendments
• Clear procedures for handling exceptions to billing, rev rec, and reporting
• Close calendar with lock dates and audit checkpoints

The best finance teams rely on standardized procedures, not just a few  . Documented processes, policies, and controls—not fire drills.

5. Proactively Audit the Most Common Exception Scenarios

Identify the most common exception scenarios that consistently cause delays to the close.  These could include: 

• Late or incomplete consumption data from the product

• Inaccurate proration calculations from the billing system
• Missing vendor invoices from the product team 

Invest in RPA, workflow automations, AI, or custom-developed software features to proactively audit these common issues and automate the most frequent exception scenarios.  Avoid the temptation to close in Excel.  Each spreadsheet override is a liability. One-off fixes today are rework tickets tomorrow.

Controlled automation doesn’t just reduce effort—it builds trust in your numbers. Auditors love it. Your future self will too.