Serial dependencies
Tasks that wait in line for each other even though several of them could run in parallel with the right handoff.
Close
See what is making your close take longer than it should.
Map the dependencies, manual journals, reconciliations, spreadsheet handoffs and review bottlenecks behind your period-end timeline — and see which ones are worth fixing first.
Start without a connection · Evidence-backed · No rip-and-replace
Rarely just one thing
Close delays rarely come from one task
A slow close is usually six small problems compounding, not one big one. FlyCFO maps them individually so you know which to fix first.
Late inputs
Upstream teams or systems deliver what finance needs late, and the whole close schedule absorbs the delay.
Repeated manual journals
The same accruals, reclasses and imports built by hand, close after close, with no reliable audit trail.
Reconciliations that wait
Reconciliation work sits idle until "perfect" data arrives, instead of starting on what's already available.
Review concentrated with one person
A single reviewer becomes the bottleneck — and the key-person risk — for the whole close.
Checklists without evidence
A checklist shows which tasks are marked done — not the evidence behind them, or which ones hit an exception.
No connection required to start
Use the evidence you already have
Every evidence type below strengthens the read on your close. None of them are required — you can start with structured questions alone.
01
Close checklist or calendar
Whatever you already run the close from, in whatever format it exists today.
02
Task export
An export from a close-management tool or project tracker, if you keep one.
03
Reconciliation inventory
A list of what gets reconciled each period, and by whom.
04
Process document
Any written runbook, SOP or onboarding note describing how the close is actually performed.
05
Questionnaire responses
Structured answers about your close — always accepted, always the starting point.
06
Supported read-only data
A supported accounting/ERP connection with minimum read-only scopes, only where genuinely available.
Evidence before reliance
What a Close finding actually looks like
Every finding is graded by the evidence behind it and states a range, not a single invented number. This is a demonstration, not a customer result.
Demonstration finding
Illustrative
Account reconciliation review is a serial bottleneck
Review work is concentrated with one person and begins only after all preparers finish, creating a serial dependency.
Observed stepQuantifiedValidation needed
- Process
- Account reconciliation review
- Evidence
- Reported workflow + checklist
- Estimated impact
- 18–32 hrs / close
- Confidence
- Medium
- Complexity
- Low to medium
- Next step
- Validate review criteria
Recommended next step: validate review criteria, split exception review from standard review, and automate evidence collection before changing approvals. Illustrative example — not a customer result or industry benchmark.
Honest scope
What the Close Flight Check can — and can't — tell you
It's a diagnostic, not a substitute for judgment. It tells you where to look, not what to decide.
What it can tell you
- Where the close is serial rather than parallel
- Where ownership creates key-person risk
- Which tasks are candidates for evidence collection, orchestration, or automation
- Which findings need validation before a change
What it cannot tell you automatically
- Whether accounting judgment is correct
- Whether a control should be removed
- Whether every manual task should be automated
- A guaranteed savings amount from incomplete evidence
Four places finance friction hides
Close is one of four pillars
Cash, Clarity and Controls use the same evidence model. Start wherever the pain is loudest.
01 Cash
Find the repeated touches and handoff gaps delaying cash — billing, collections, disputes and cash application.
02 Clarity
Find the manual work hiding inside management and board reporting — assembly, definitions and last-mile slides.
03 Controls
Find fragile spreadsheets, approval gaps and single-owner risk before they become audit or continuity problems.
Start with Close
Find the first thing worth fixing in your close.
Run the Close Flight Check, or get your free Close Health Score first — either way, no connection is required to start.