Learnings from a decade of building finance teams at Uber and Miro.

Month-end close is important for every business, but for the best-run companies, it’s a strategic advantage. It’s not just about ticking boxes or meeting deadlines. A strong close gives finance the control to catch issues early, the structure to scale, and the clarity to guide business decisions with confidence. When done right, it becomes the foundation for trust, insight, and speed across the entire organisation.

After managing hundreds of closes at companies like Uber and Miro, I’ve seen a consistent pattern. No matter the industry, size, or complexity, five foundational elements show up in every world-class close.

Here’s what they are, why they matter, and how high-performing teams are using AI to automate the grunt work.

1. Mapped and Measurable Close Process

“Do your checklists catch issues? Do they help improve your process?”

A great close starts with a living, breathing checklist — not just one that tracks activity, but one that improves it.

World-class teams map every task to a timeline and outcome. They instrument the process to track not just what was done, but where delays or issues consistently emerge. This level of visibility makes it possible to spot inefficiencies, scale knowledge, and proactively catch problems.

2. Clearly Defined Ownership and Timelines

“If a rec breaks, does your team know who fixes it, by when, and how?”

Broken processes are rarely a result of poor effort; more often, they’re a result of unclear accountability.

In fast-moving orgs, ambiguity kills momentum. Every reconciliation, journal entry, and exception needs a clear owner and SLA. If something goes wrong, the team shouldn’t waste time figuring out who’s responsible; they should already know.

3. Repeatable, Standardized Reconciliations

“How many of your recs could a new team member run without asking questions?”

Standardization is the gateway to scale. If every rec is slightly different, onboarding takes longer, errors creep in, and bottlenecks multiply.

The best teams reduce reconciliation work to consistent, repeatable templates, often automated through AI. This not only cuts prep time but makes it possible for anyone on the team to step in with minimal ramp-up.

4. Roll forward Accountability and Storytelling

“Can you trace your balances month to month? Can you tell the story?”

Many teams reconcile the current month without a clear view of the prior one.

But to explain why an account moved, you need rollforward visibility and narrative context. Being able to tell the story behind a number, not just produce it, is what separates data from insight. Finance should feel confident walking into any exec or board meeting with answers at their fingertips.

5. Automation and Unlocking Efficiencies

“How do we up level our process to close faster without sacrificing quality?”

The fastest-growing teams aren’t just working harder; they’re working smarter. They’re using AI to automate 97% of the grunt work: transaction matching, tie-outs, exception flagging, and even journal entries.

This doesn’t just reduce hours; it eliminates the drudgery that holds finance back. With automation in place, your team can focus on the high-leverage work, the judgment, the insight, and the strategy.

From Theory to Practice

We recently walked through these five pillars in a live session, sharing lessons from our work with high-growth teams. Watch the video snippet below to see how modern finance orgs are putting these ideas into action, and how your team can too.

Want to up level your month-end close?

Let’s chat. We’d love to show you how AI can automate your close process, end-to-end, and help your team move from firefighting to forecasting.