XBert Type: Standard
Accounting Software: Xero, MYOB
Country Restriction: All supported countries
Risk Type: Financial Reporting Risk
Business Function: Compliance
Overview
The "Month-End Journals Missing" XBert watches for the regular month-end journals your business normally posts and lets you know when the most recently finished month looks like it is missing them. Month-end journals — such as accruals, prepayments, depreciation and stock or balance adjustments — make sure your accounts are complete before you rely on the figures, so a month that is missing them can mean inaccurate reports and compounding errors later.
What it does
XBert looks at the month-end journals you have posted over the past year and works out your usual pattern: roughly how many journals you post each month, their typical total value, and how many days after month end you normally post them. It then compares the most recently completed month against that pattern. If that month has far fewer (or no) month-end journals than you would normally post, and you are already past your usual posting window, XBert raises this alert so you can finish the month-end work.
How it works
XBert only raises this alert when every one of the following is true for the most recently completed month:
You routinely post month-end journals. XBert needs at least eleven months of history showing you regularly post these journals. If your business does not normally run month-end journals, this alert will never fire.
You are genuinely overdue. Month-end journals are usually posted a few days into the next month, so XBert waits until your own normal posting window has passed (and always allows at least seven days) before treating a month as overdue.
The month is materially low. The month's journal value must be well below your usual amount — either more than two standard deviations below your average, or less than half of your typical monthly total. Normal month-to-month variation will not trip the alert.
XBert deliberately ignores cases that are not really a problem. If you posted your month-end journals on time and within your normal window, it stays quiet — that was simply a quieter month, not a missed one. It also skips businesses without enough history and those that do not routinely post month-end journals at all.
Example/Use Case
Priya is the bookkeeper for Harbourview Trading. Each month she posts around five month-end journals worth roughly $10,000 in total — accruals, prepayments and depreciation — usually within four days of month end. During a hectic May, she closes off the bank reconciliation but never gets back to the month-end journals. By late June, well past her usual four-day window, May still shows no month-end journals against her steady twelve-month pattern. XBert raises "Month-End Journals Missing" for the month ending 31 May. Priya posts the missing accruals and depreciation, May's balance sheet is corrected before the quarter is reported, and a compounding error in the next period is avoided. Once the journals are in, she marks the XBert as resolved.
Accounting software
This XBert runs on Xero and MYOB.
Which countries it supports
All supported countries.
Processes
This alert falls under the 'Other Bookkeeping' business area and supports an accurate, timely month-end close. To resolve it:
Check the month-end journals for the month shown in the alert and compare them against what you would normally post.
Post any accruals, prepayments, depreciation, stock adjustments, loan or interest schedules, or asset and liability allocations that were missed.
If the journals were already entered in a different way (for example through another process or software), confirm the period's figures are complete and correct.
Consider a simple monthly journal checklist so your month-end close stays consistent from one period to the next.
Once the month-end journals are complete and correct, mark the XBert as resolved.