Close Guide

Before You Start

Before beginning any close, confirm the following:

• Previous period is locked. This prevents backdated entries from contaminating a period you've already closed. If you haven't locked the prior month yet, do that first.
• All accounts are connected and syncing. Check the Accounts tab for disconnection warnings. If an account dropped, reconnect it or request statements from the client.
• Prior period retained earnings agree with the last financial package. If they don't, something was posted to a closed period — investigate before proceeding.
• Client has been invited with correct permissions. We recommend adding clients as Members so locked periods are view-only for them.

Step 1: Confirm Transaction Completeness

Start with reconciliation — not categorization. The goal is to answer one question: do we have every transaction the bank has?

In Kick, every transaction imported is immediately posted to the ledger — reconciliation here is about confirming completeness, not posting.

What to do:

• Navigate to Accounting → Reconciliation
• Upload statements for the period if they haven't synced automatically through Plaid
• Follow the steps in the reconciliation article for each bank and credit card account
• Confirm opening and closing balances match the bank statements
• Resolve any exceptions (missing transactions, date discrepancies, duplicates)

Why Kick does it this way: Reconciling first ensures data completeness before you start reviewing or categorizing. This prevents the common problem of discovering missing transactions halfway through a close.

Step 2: Review and Resolve Transfers

Before categorizing, check that transfers between accounts are properly matched. Unmatched or miscategorized transfers can show up as non-zero balances in your clearing accounts on the Balance Sheet.

What to do:

• Review the Balance Sheet for non-zero clearing account balances:
  • Bank Transfer Clearing
  • Payment Transfer Clearing
  • Credit Card Clearing
• Match any unmatched transfers manually, or investigate why they're unmatched (the other account may not be connected)
• For recurring transfers, set up a Transfer Rule so Kick handles the matching automatically going forward

Ideally, clearing accounts are at $0 after matching. A non-zero balance is always worth investigating, but it's not always an error.

Likely needs fixing:

• A transaction has been miscategorized (e.g., a transfer coded as an expense)
• A transfer didn't clear because the other account is disconnected or not yet connected in Kick

May be expected:

• The offsetting transaction clears after the period ends — the balance will resolve in a future period, but confirm that's expected

Step 3: Transaction Review

Kick's tiered categorization system auto-categorizes ~97% of transactions on first pass. Your job is to review the exceptions — the transactions where the AI wasn't confident enough to make a call.

What to do:

To review similar transactions →

1. Open the Transactions page, toggle to the General Ledger Review View, filter for the period you are reviewing, sort Bank description alphabetically by clicking on the column header.
2. Select transactions (see Keyboard shortcuts) to update categorization, counterparties, classes, etc.
   1. Kick will ask you if you'd like to make changes to similar transactions. Click Review when you see this pop-up and Assign to confirm the bulk update. Kick will learn from these changes over time.
3. For recurring transactions, ensure your updates are always applied consistently by creating Rules.

To review uncategorized transactions →

1. Open the Transactions page, toggle to the General Ledger Review View, filter for the period you are reviewing, filter for Category → Uncategorized.
2. Assign categories to transactions that do not need to be confirmed with your client.
3. If you need client input, generate a Task from the transactions to request more info.

To review material transactions →

1. Open the Transactions page, toggle to the General Ledger Review View, filter for the period you are reviewing, click the Amount column to sort largest cash in → largest cash out.
   1. Click Amount again to reverse the sorting.
2. Alternatively, use the Amount filter to review transactions above a materiality threshold.
3. Confirm categorization, taking particular care to review Contributions, Distributions, Transfers, and Revenue.

To review transactions without a counterparty →

1. Open the Transactions page, toggle to the General Ledger Review View, filter for the period you are reviewing, filter for Counterparty → No counterparty.
   1. Add additional filters for scenarios where all transactions require a counterparty (e.g. General Ledger = Contract Labor).
2. Assign a counterparty to each transaction, making bulk updates to selected transactions when possible.

To review personal accounts →

1. Open the Transactions page, toggle to the General Ledger Review View, filter for the period you are reviewing, filter for Entity → Personal.
2. Move business transactions that occurred in personal accounts to the relevant entity, and assign the appropriate category.
   1. See Personal to Business for additional guidance.

Step 4: Payroll Reconciliation

If the client uses a payroll provider (Gusto, ADP, etc.), verify that payroll entries for the period are complete and match the provider's reports.

What to do when using Gusto Follow the Payroll reconciliation guide to reconcile the Gusto payroll liability account, including net pay, taxes, benefits, and contractor payments.

What to do:

• Compare payroll-related transactions in Kick against the payroll provider's period summary
• Confirm wages, taxes, employer contributions, and other deductions are recorded correctly for each period
• Make adjusting journal entries, as needed
• For Gusto-integrated clients, Kick automatically maps standard payroll accounts — confirm the mapping is correct

This step is especially important at year-end when reconciling to the W-3, but a quick check each month prevents surprises. For recurring payroll adjustments, set them up as recurring entries.

Step 5: Loan Reconciliation

Loans are common enough to warrant their own review. If the client has any outstanding loans, lines of credit, or financing arrangements, reconcile them separately.

What to do:

• Verify loan balances in Kick against lender statements for the period
• Confirm principal and interest splits are recorded correctly on each payment
• Check that loan amortization schedules are being followed — set up recurring entries for monthly interest accruals if needed
• For new loans originated during the period, confirm the proceeds and any associated fees are booked correctly
• Reconcile any line-of-credit draws and repayments

Step 6: Post Adjusting Journal Entries

After the categorization review and Balance Sheet review are complete, post any period-end adjustments.

Common adjustments:

• Loan interest accruals
• Prepaid expense amortization
• Depreciation or amortization
• Deferred revenue recognition
• Receivable write-offs
• Reclassifications

For entries that repeat each period (depreciation, amortization), set them up as recurring entries so they post automatically. See Journal entries for full details on creating and managing JEs.

Step 7: Financial Statement Review

What to do:

• Navigate to Accounting → Balance Sheet
• Confirm prior period retained earnings agree with what was reported in the last financial package. If they don't, something was posted to a closed period — investigate before proceeding
• Scan for stale balances: prepaid amounts that should have been amortized, receivables that should have been written off, clearing accounts that should be at zero

Note: Kick's Balance Sheet includes clearing accounts (Bank Transfer Clearing, Payment Transfer Clearing, Credit Card Clearing). These should be at $0 after completing Step 2. A remaining balance isn't necessarily an error — it may indicate a transfer that clears in a future period, or an account that hasn't been connected yet. If a balance remains, make sure you can explain it before moving on.

Double-Check At this point, the close is substantively done. But you're a meticulous accountant — so you're going to check it over one more time.

What to do:

• Review the Profit & Loss for the period — do revenue, expenses, and net income pass the smell test?
• Review the Balance Sheet one more time — any stale items that require adjustment?
• Check that clearing accounts are still at $0 (nothing snuck in during the adjustment phase)
• If the client uses classes, run the P&L by class to confirm nothing is misallocated
• Export the Balance Sheet or Profit & Loss if you need to review offline or share with a third party before locking

Step 8: Lock the Period

What to do:

• Navigate to your profile icon → Locks
• Select the month and click Lock
• Locking a month also locks all prior months

Once locked, clients with Member permissions have view-only access to the period. Only firm team members and client Admins can unlock.

Step 9: Share with Client

Deliver the financial package to the client.

What to do:

• Create a Task with the period's financials attached (P&L, Balance Sheet, and any notes). You can export financials in multiple formats directly from the Balance Sheet and Profit & Loss report pages.
  • Alternatively, invite your client as a Member so they have view-only access to the Accounting tab for locked periods. Using a Task, instruct them to navigate to each report and filter for the closed period to complete their review.
• For year-end, the Year-End Tax Package can be downloaded from the Accounting page to bundle all financials into a single download.