#13 Closing Q2 + The Checklist

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Welcome to Q3 Everyone!

Staying positive over here! Friendly reminder that every bear market goes down more than most think it will. Good news: it has always recovered and it will this time!

A Quick Story on Checklists - Why They Matter for CFO’s / Humans

For a long time, I’ve been using a to-do list or checklist (we will use these two interchangeably here). It started with weekly chores at home (thanks mom and dad) and continued into jobs as a lifeguard (daily checklist and initials required by each item, or else) and running a summer yard business (15 / lawns per week, it was hot :)).

In college finance and accounting classes, the checklist was hammered into our heads as a useful tool. As my peers and I moved into the professional world, we quickly realized why - the finance, banking, and accounting firms we worked for all utilized these lists in one way or another, often in Excel.

Here’s a thoughtful take on “Why We Continue to Rely on (and Love) To-Do Lists” if you want to dive deeper. “Essentially, when we create a roadmap to help us reach a goal, we are more likely to attain it and more likely to focus better on other areas of our work or lives in the interim.”

The Q2 Closing Checklist

We’re halfway through the year! It’s a good time to step back, review the first half, and make any adjustments to close the second half strong.

Many of you have asked how we close Q2. Here’s a summarized version of the checklist we use to make sure all things CFO are in a great place:

1. Investments: are we organized? Do our internal tracking files (in Excel :)) match our signed legal documents and administrator accounting records?

2. Expense Review vs. Budget: what were our Q2 and YTD expenses relative to company, fund budgets? Why were we over / under? Are we using all of our subscriptions or could some be adjusted?

3. Expense Forecast: update. use #2 to update our forecast for the rest of the year

4. Cash Flow: review & update forecast

5. Balance Sheet: review. Who do we owe money to and when? Who owes us?

6. Investor Reporting: did we deliver on-time and as expected thus far this year? Should we make any adjustments for the rest of year?

7. Compliance & Legal: have we filed appropriate documents w/ banks, gov’t agencies? Do we have the right compliance, legal partners in place to support?

8. Internal Team Check: is everyone in a good place? Take the time to ask :)

9. External Partners Check: accounting, banking, legal, audit/tax, compliance, technology, cyber, asset custody, etc. - all working well?

10. Goals & Targets: what goals & targets did we set at the beginning of the year? What did we hit / miss? What should we update for the rest of the year?

That’s all for today folks! Thanks for your support and spreading the word! Share this on Twitter or LinkedIn to help grow “the crew!”