The month-close checklist I use so a bank CSV category sheet still matches the period

Mid-category honesty is necessary. Month-close is different. The morning you decide "this category sheet is the month" is when last month's as-of is still on the header, transfers are still greening as expenses, duplicate merchant rows are still summed twice, personal bleed is still locked as business, guessed categories are still coded as fact, and a raw CSV artifact is hitchhiking into the share.

I am Brittany Bonds, a freelancer admin helper. I turn bank or CSV exports into a clean monthly category sheet. I am not a CPA, bookkeeper, lawyer, or tax advisor, and this is not financial, tax, legal, or accounting advice. It is a practical month-close checklist for keeping stated categories, transfers, duplicates, and unknowns visibly honest before anyone treats the sheet as the closed month.

This is complementary to my earlier posts, not a rewrite. My first-pass workflow is How I turn a bank or CSV export into a monthly category sheet. The second pass is The mid-category checklist I use so a bank CSV category sheet stays honest. This third pass is the month-close check: the moment when someone may treat the sheet as the locked period.

What "honest enough to close" looks like

• One as-of date and one period window sit at the top — not three conflicting "through the 31st" notes
• Transfers, refunds, and payments are labeled as such — not silently greening expense totals
• Duplicate merchant / same-day paste rows are one line or labeled duplicates — not double-counted spend
• Personal vs business bleed is separated or marked ask — not locked as business because the month looked tidy
• Guessed categories stay guessed or Needs-confirm — not coded as fact
• Raw dump artifacts are out of the share view
• You can answer "spend by category this period?" without reconstructing six CSV exports

If the only close plan you have is a sticky labeled "send the category totals," month-close honesty has already slipped.

The month-close checklist

Use this against the near-final category sheet and the live artifacts (bank CSV, credit-card export, prior month sheet, notes) before anyone treats the sheet as this period's closed truth.

1. Kill as-of and period drift before the sheet leaves

• [ ] One as-of date and one period window sit at the top — not three conflicting notes in different tabs
• [ ] Totals are recalculated vs that window — not copied from last month's export
• [ ] Everything still showing "this month" when the export ends on the 28th is labeled period drift until recalc
• [ ] Skim test: you can answer "through when?" without opening Slack

2. Separate transfers, refunds, and true spend before anyone trusts the totals

• [ ] Transfers between own accounts are labeled transfer — not expense
• [ ] Refunds and chargebacks are labeled refund — not negative mystery spend that quietly shrinks a category
• [ ] Unknown merchant rows stay Needs-confirm — not silently promoted to "misc" because the sheet looked empty of red
• [ ] Skim test: you can answer "what actually left the business this period?" without reconstructing six exports

3. Lock sources, duplicates, and guessed categories

• [ ] Each complete-looking row has a source (CSV line, statement date, note) — orphan amounts without a source are Needs-confirm
• [ ] Duplicate paste across checking + card + prior export is one row or one labeled duplicate — not two spend totals
• [ ] Categories filled from "probably software" folklore are labeled guessed — not locked as coded
• [ ] Merchant-name drift is normalized with aliases in notes — not three ghost vendors
• [ ] Skim test: sorting by category shows one spend line per activity, not a museum of doubles

4. Honesty tripwires (before you treat the sheet as close-ready)

• [ ] You did not promote vibes to "all business" because the personal column looked empty of red
• [ ] Incomplete sections stay Needs-confirm — not silently promoted to "ready" because the sheet looked sparse
• [ ] Raw dump artifacts (unfinished CSV paste, named complainers, draft notes) are out of the share view
• [ ] Skim test: a stranger can answer "spend by category this period?" from the sheet alone

Soft CTA

If you have a messy bank or CSV export and want a clean monthly category sheet in 24 hours: ujamx on Gumroad ($12). Code ADMIN12 for $2 off. Full shop: brittanybonds.gumroad.com. Catalog mirror: brittany-bonds.github.io.

Not a CPA. Not financial, tax, legal, or accounting advice — just admin cleanup so the category story matches the period.