A close calendar is the dated schedule of every task required to close an accounting period, listing each task's owner, its deadline in working days relative to period end, and its dependencies on other tasks.
A close calendar uses working-day notation. WD-2 means two working days before period end and WD+3 the third working day after it, which the French write J-2 and J+3. The notation keeps the calendar reusable from month to month regardless of weekends and holidays.
A close calendar is usually organised in four phases:
The critical path matters more than the task count. A calendar with 120 tasks is often driven by three or four dependencies, typically the bank, intercompany confirmations and supplier accruals. Moving one of them earlier shortens the whole close, while adding staff elsewhere changes nothing. The detailed task list is in the month-end close checklist.
Phacet takes items off the critical path. Bank flows are reconciled daily instead of at WD+1, and supplier invoices are validated on arrival instead of in the pre-close rush, which is the mechanism behind month-end close acceleration. The difference between monthly and year-end calendars is covered in hard close vs soft close.
