Streamlining Month-End Close with Dynamics 365 Business Central

Month-end close is one of the most important processes a finance team runs. Done well, it gives management the reliable data they need to make decisions, keeps stakeholders confident in reported results, and ensures compliance obligations are met on time. For many businesses moving to an ERP like Dynamics 365 Business Central, a faster, cleaner close is one of the first tangible wins they experience.

But getting there requires more than just the software. It requires using the right tools for each task, and knowing they exist in the first place. Many finance teams settle into their post-implementation routines without exploring features that could save hours every single month.

Below, we walk through the key tasks of a standard month-end close, what Business Central offers to support each one, and where there may be an opportunity to work smarter.

Core Month-End Tasks

1. Log All Final Purchasing Invoices

Aim: Ensure all expense transactions for the month are captured before close.

All known vendor invoices should be entered and posted before the period is closed. Review the unposted Purchase Invoice list to catch any drafts started but not completed (these should either be finished and posted, or deleted to keep the list clean).

BC Tools to Help:

• AI Purchasing Agent — Reads vendor invoices from email, extracts key fields, and creates draft purchase invoices automatically, including OCR for PDF invoices.
• Recurring Purchase Lines — Set up template lines for regular vendors (e.g. rent, utilities) so they can be applied with a single click each month.
• Copy Document — Duplicate a previous invoice to create a new one quickly, useful for vendors with consistent line items.
• Unposted Invoice Review — Filter Purchase Invoices by status to catch and clear any outstanding drafts before closing.

Not using the AI Purchasing Agent or Recurring Lines yet? If you'd like a walkthrough of how to configure them for your vendor setup, we're happy to help.

2. Process and Approve Employee Expenses

Aim: Capture and post employee expense claims accurately within the correct period.

Employee expenses are easy to overlook at month-end, but late or missing expense postings can distort cost reporting and cause reconciliation headaches. This was always a manual process or an integration to an external system. However, Business Central's new Expense Management module provides a structured, end-to-end process for submitting, approving, and posting expense claims, all within BC.

BC Tools to Help:

• Expense Reports — Employees submit expense claims directly in BC (or via the mobile app), with receipt attachment and category coding.
• Approval Workflows — Route expense reports through manager approval before posting, reducing errors and ensuring policy compliance.
• Direct GL Posting — Approved expenses post directly to the correct G/L accounts and cost dimensions, no manual journal required.
• Per Diem & Mileage — Configure standard rates so employees can log travel without manual calculations.

Expense Management is available as part of Business Central. If your team is currently handling expenses outside of BC, through spreadsheets or a separate tool, consolidating into BC can reduce double-handling and improve visibility at month-end.

3. Log All Final Customer Invoices

Aim: Ensure all revenue transactions for the month are captured and invoices are sent.

Check that all month-end customer invoicing is complete. This includes standard Sales Invoices, any Project (Job) Invoices ready to go out, Retainage Invoices due to be released, and any Recurring Invoices that need to be posted.

BC Tools to Help:

• AI Sales Agent — Assists with Sales Order intake by reading customer purchase orders and creating draft orders, reducing manual data entry.
• Recurring Sales Lines — Pre-built line templates for customers are billed on a regular basis (apply in seconds rather than re-entering each month).
• Batch Posting — Post multiple Sales Invoices in one action, saving time at month-end when volume is high.
• Copy Document — Quickly duplicate a prior invoice for repeat customers with similar orders.

If your team is still manually entering recurring invoices or processing orders one by one, there are likely time savings available. Let us know and we can review your current process.

4. Reconcile Accounts Payable (AP)

Aim: Confirm vendor balances in the subledger match the AP G/L accounts.

Run the Aged Accounts Payable report and compare the totals to your accounts payable G/L accounts. If payables run to multiple G/L accounts, filter or group by vendor posting group to make the comparison more manageable.

BC Tools to Help:

• Aged AP Report — Primary reconciliation tool. This shows outstanding vendor balances aged by due date, reconcilable to the G/L.
• Vendor Ledger Entries — Drill into individual vendor transactions to investigate any variances found during reconciliation.
• Vendor Trial Balance — Cross-check opening, movement, and closing balances by vendor for the period.

5. Reconcile Accounts Receivable (AR)

Aim: Confirm customer balances in the subledger match the AR G/L accounts.

Run the Aged Accounts Receivable report and compare totals to your accounts receivable G/L accounts. As with AP, group by customer posting group if receivables run to multiple accounts.

BC Tools to Help:

• Aged AR Report — Primary reconciliation tool. This shows outstanding customer balances by age, reconcilable to the G/L.
• Customer Ledger Entries — Transaction-level drill-down for investigating variances.
• Customer Trial Balance — Period summary by customer for cross-checking movement and closing balances.

6. Post Fixed Asset Depreciation

Aim: Record monthly depreciation to reflect asset usage and update book values.

Use the Calculate Depreciation batch job on the Fixed Assets page to automatically calculate depreciation entries for all relevant assets in the period. This creates unposted journal entries for review before posting. Note that this requires the Fixed Assets module to be configured with the correct depreciation books and methods.

BC Tools to Help:

• Calculate Depreciation — Batch job that auto-calculates depreciation entries for all assets, significantly faster than manual journals.
• FA Posting Groups — Drive automated posting to the correct G/L accounts per asset category without manual account selection.

If your fixed asset register isn't fully set up in BC, you may be missing out on automated depreciation. This is worth reviewing if you're still running manual depreciation entries outside the system.

7. Record Accruals and Deferrals

Aim: Match expenses and revenues to the correct accounting period.

Accruals and deferrals are where many manual journal entries accumulate each month. BC offers tools to automate and streamline both, reducing the risk of missed or reversed entries.

BC Tools to Help:

• Recurring General Journal — Set up reusable journal templates with reversing entry types, ideal for accruals that need to flip in the following period.
• Deferral Codes — Applied directly to purchase and sales documents, deferral codes automatically spread revenue or expense recognition across multiple periods, no manual journal required.

Deferral Codes in particular are underused by many BC clients. If you're manually journaling prepayments or deferred income each month, this can eliminate that work entirely.

8. Record Other Month-End Journals

Aim: Capture allocations, adjustments, corrections, and any remaining period entries.

Every close will have a set of journals unique to the business (cost allocations, intercompany adjustments, corrections, and one-off entries). BC provides a structured environment to manage these efficiently and with appropriate controls.

BC Tools to Help:

• Recurring General Journals — Build reusable templates for regular monthly allocations (e.g. rent, insurance, shared costs), post in one step each month.
• Approval Workflows — Route journals through a reviewer before posting.
• Audit Trails — Every posted entry in BC carries a user stamp, timestamp, and source reference, no separate logging required.

9. Prepare and Review Financial Statements

Aim: Deliver accurate, timely financials to management and stakeholders.

Once all transactions are posted and reconciled, the focus shifts to producing and reviewing financial statements. BC provides flexible reporting tools that can be tailored to your business structure, including multi-dimensional reporting for businesses that need to analyse results by department, region, project, or any other dimension.

• Financial Reports — Fully customizable P&L, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow statements built directly within BC, no export required.
• Dimensions — Slice financial results by department, project, location, or any dimension relevant to your business. Powerful for KPI reporting and cost center analysis.
• Power BI Integration — Connect BC data to Power BI for interactive dashboards and visualizations that go beyond what static reports can offer.
• Account Schedules — Define custom row and column structures for management reporting, tailored to how your leadership team wants to see results.

If your management reports are still being compiled manually in Excel after exporting from BC, Financial Reports and Power BI integration can close that gap. This is one of the most common improvement opportunities we see.

Additional Items — Depending on Your Business

Not every business will complete all of the following steps, but for those that do, BC has built-in functionality to support each one.

Inventory Reconciliation & Period Close

Aim: Ensure stock balances match the inventory G/L accounts.

• Inventory Valuation Report — Reconcile inventory subledger to the G/L. This shows value by item at any point in time.
• Adjust Cost – Item Entries — Batch job to ensure all item costs are correctly calculated and posted to the G/L before close (if not using automatic cost updates).
• Close Inventory Period — Critical in an Inventory environment. Locks the inventory period to prevent backdated entries once reconciliation is complete.

Intercompany Reconciliation & Due To/From Clearing

Aim: Align balances between related entities and clear intercompany accounts.

• Intercompany Postings — Automate due to/from entries across entities. Transactions posted in one company flow through to the other automatically.
• IC Reconciliation Reports — Built-in reports to identify and resolve mismatches between intercompany accounts.

Post Project WIP

Aim: Recognize work-in-progress costs and revenues at period end.

• Job WIP Calculation — Calculates WIP values across all active projects based on your chosen recognition method.
• Job WIP Posting — Posts WIP entries to the G/L. It also reverses existing WIP automatically and generates the updated values.

Adjust Currencies (Multi-Currency Entities)

Aim: Revalue foreign currency balances and record FX gains and losses.

• Adjust Exchange Rates — Batch job that revalues all outstanding customer, vendor, and bank balances at the period-end rate.
• Automated FX Postings — Realized and unrealized FX gains/losses are posted automatically to the designated G/L accounts.

How Stravis Helps Clients Streamline Month-End

Implementing Business Central is the starting point, not the finish line. Finance teams naturally focus on learning the core processes first, and it's common for features like deferral codes, recurring journals, batch posting, and expense management to remain underused long after go-live.

At Stravis, we work with clients to continuously improve their close process over time. Whether that's a targeted retraining session on a specific tool, a broader process review, or a periodic health check to identify where time is being lost, we're set up to support you beyond the initial implementation.

If any of the tools highlighted in this article are new to you, or if you'd like to review how your team is currently running month-end, we'd be happy to take a look together.

Get in touch with your Stravis consultant to discuss a month-end process review, or use the contact us below. A small investment of time in improving your close process can save hours (and back-office costs) every single month.

Not yet using Stravis for your Business Central support, continuous improvement, and upgrade management? We'd love to hear how we can help your organization!