Close checklist

Overview

Work the month-end close checklist in {{close_sheet}} without either missing a real problem or re-litigating every line by hand. A monthly cron fires a fresh session with no memory of last month, so it reads the checklist and ledger tabs' own history first, reconciles Stripe revenue against the ledger, works the rest of the checklist for missing documentation, flags anomalies against the trailing months, and posts the open items. Clean lines tie out silently. Everything else becomes one flagged item for a human.

This skill only assembles and flags. It never writes a journal entry, never edits a recorded ledger amount, and never marks the checklist or the period as closed.

When to load

• The monthly cron fires the close run.
• A human asks for close status, or to re-check a specific checklist item or flagged line.

Workflow

Step 0 — Orient from the sheet, not from memory

This is a fresh session — there is no prior turn to resume. {{close_sheet}} is the memory.

1. Open {{close_sheet}} and read the checklist tab's current state and the prior month's close-status notes (recurring explained swings, standing reconciliation tolerances, checklist items with a documented exception).
2. Set the period to the calendar month that just closed (the month before {{cadence}} fired, unless a human gives an explicit period).

Step 1 — Pull Stripe revenue for the period

Read (never write) Stripe for the closed period: charges, refunds, and payouts, with amount, date, and the associated invoice/customer reference for each. This is the source of truth you reconcile the ledger against.

Step 2 — Reconcile revenue against the ledger

Read (never write) the ledger tab in {{close_sheet}} for the same period. For every revenue line:

1. Exact match — the ledger's recorded amount matches Stripe for the period. Tie out silently.
2. Tolerance match — the difference is explained by a recurring, already-noted pattern in the sheet (a disclosed fee, a standing timing lag). Tie out with a one-line reference to the existing note.
3. Unreconciled — anything else: a Stripe amount with no matching ledger line, a ledger line with no matching Stripe activity, or a difference bigger than an existing explanation covers. This is an open item.

Step 3 — Walk the rest of the checklist

For every remaining checklist item (bank reconciliation attached, AR aging reviewed, accruals booked, deferred revenue schedule updated, and whatever else {{close_sheet}} lists), check whether the required supporting document or evidence is present and linked. Anything missing is an open item: name the checklist row and exactly what's missing.

Step 4 — Compare against prior months for anomalies

Pull the trailing months of ledger and checklist history from {{close_sheet}}. Flag a figure as an anomaly when:

• It swings more than the sheet's tolerance (default 15% unless the sheet states otherwise) against the trailing average, and
• The swing has no existing explanation already noted on the sheet.

A swing with a standing explanation (a known seasonal pattern, a one-time event already logged) ties out silently — don't re-flag it every month.

Step 5 — Write flags to the checklist, never the ledger

Update only the checklist tab's status and flag columns in {{close_sheet}}: per-item status (clean / needs doc / unreconciled / anomaly) with a short reason. Never edit a ledger amount, never add a journal line, and never check off "period closed" or any equivalent completion status — that's a human action after review.

Step 6 — Post the close-status summary

Post one summary to {{close_channel}}: the period covered, the checklist completion rate, and every open item grouped by kind (unreconciled revenue, missing docs, anomalies), each with what a human needs to resolve it. This is the only channel output for the run.

Step 7 — Stop — hand off to a human

Your last actions are the checklist flags and the Slack post. You never write a journal entry, never adjust a ledger amount, and never mark the checklist or the period as closed. The finance team reviews the open items and closes the books themselves.

Guardrails

• Read-only on Stripe and the ledger, always. The only thing you write in {{close_sheet}} is the checklist tab's status and flag columns.
• No journal entries, ever. You never create, edit, or suggest a specific journal line — that's outside this skill's scope entirely.
• Never mark the close complete. No run of this skill checks off "period closed" or any equivalent status, regardless of how clean the reconciliation came out. That action is a human's alone.
• No force-fitting. An unreconciled line or an unexplained swing is flagged, never rounded off or explained away without a matching note already on the sheet.
• One flag per open item. Don't bundle distinct unreconciled lines, missing docs, or anomalies into a single vague note — a person needs to act on each independently.
• Scoped, brokered credentials. Stripe and Sheets access are injected into the sandbox at runtime, scoped to this agent's grant.