True, the more “wired up” your own departments are, the faster and more efficiently you’ll weather those last few days on each page of the calendar. But even if you’re swirling in spreadsheets you can make serious headway.

The key? Taking advantage of the technology every bank offers these days.

Any company with a PC and a little flexibility has the ability to shave hours or even days off their close just by using their bank’s technology.

Work on your timetable, not theirs

Here’s where the flexibility comes in: Get your staff to think about working towards month end on the 6^th, the 11^th — not just in those last dying days when they already have enough on their plate.

Then encourage your people log onto your bank’s Web site to reconcile these two areas every day:

1. Bank accounts. Instead of just monitoring your balances on a daily basis, think about having your staffers reconcile accounts every day. One caution: If your bank dings you each time you access info, it could get expensive. So you may want to place a call to your bank to see if you can negotiate a blanket fee for all account monitoring. People may have to carve a little time out of each day, but after a while it will become business as usual.
2. Credit card statements. Here’s more info you can access with a click of a mouse. Why be bound by when your bank (or other card issuer) sets its closing date? Rather than waiting for your statement, consider picking a date during your close and reconcile your account based on your online statement. It’ll save your staffers time and may be worth encouraging more people to make purchases with plastic.

Tags: Account monitoring, Banks, Credit card statements, Month-end