Why is month-end close so rushed with a skeleton crew?
Management forces unrealistically fast closing timelines purely to forecast, ignoring the severe stress and constant overtime it causes. When companies simultaneously fail to replace departing staff, an already impossible schedule turns into a massive, data-compromising burden for the remaining team.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Tracking post-close corrections as a KPI instead of forcing an arbitrary fast close dateDid this help you?
- 2Performing account reconciliations simultaneously or after the closeDid this help you?
- 3Pushing back to get better technology or more headcount from leadershipDid this help you?
- 4Leaving the company for a workplace with more sustainable timelinesDid this help you?
- 5Overloading on caffeineDid this help you?
- 6Listening to classical or heavy musicDid this help you?
- 7Total social blackoutDid this help you?
- 8Using ChatGPTDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“It purely so management can forecast. They dont give a shit how much stress it causes anyone else”source ↗
“my last place pushed for 2 days and half the team was doing overtime every month and we still had entries coming in a week later, like what was even the point”source ↗
“Month end is brutal. Seemingly endless reconciliations, chasing non-finance people for missing receipts like a debt collector, fiddly payroll adjustments, and non-stop balance sheet cleanup.”source ↗
“Throw in the growing obsession with a hard 5-day close and the pressure feels constant.”source ↗
“The problem comes in when they stop replacing people and 3 day close turns into a massive undertaking for the amount of people trying to do it.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 5Why does month end close ruin every weekend?
- 2Floqast running slow and freezing during month-end close
- 3Taking customer orders right at closing time
- 6Why are project deadlines and estimates always wrong?
- 2How to tell management a deadline is impossible
- 6Why does management give us arbitrary deadlines without explaining why?