Close Status Digest

Finance / AUTOMATE.md

Every business day at 7:30am, read the open close checklist and email the controller the overdue items first, then what is due in the next two days.

This is the whole automation. Run it as it is, or change any word, including the tools it names.

Overdue tasks named every morning
No status meeting needed to find the blocker

How it runs

1. Starts
Every business day at 7:30am during the close window
2. Reads
the open close checklist
3. Delivers to
Email
4. You decide
Approve each time, or let the steps you trust run. Your choice.

Why finance teams set this up

A close tracked in a spreadsheet stops being a plan and becomes a record of what already happened. Nobody knows a task is late until the close date passes, dependencies hide in email threads, and when review notes come back there is no evidence of who decided what. The month then starts before the numbers have settled.

See the whole job: Month-End Close Checklist

Use it as is. Or make it yours.

Edit it the way you would edit a note to a colleague. It follows the new version from the next run.

Change when it runs
Move it to another day or time, or start it when something arrives, like a new email.
Add your own rules
Limits, exceptions and what good looks like go in the same file, in plain words.
Decide what waits for you
Mark the steps that need your OK, and let the rest run.

You stay in charge.
At every step.

It does the checking. You approve what gets paid and posted.

Nothing paid or posted on its own
Payments, journals and approvals stay with you. It prepares them and flags what doesn't match.
Undo what you don't want
Every step is recorded, and a file it changed can be put back.
Only the books you open to it
Each automation reaches only the folders and systems you connect for it.

Close Status Digest

Approve before it sends the email?

ReviewApprove

Before you download.

Where does it run?: On your Mac or Windows computer, in the background. It keeps working after you close its window, and only reaches the folders and apps you connect for each automation.
How does it connect to our CRM and other tools?: Through each app's own connection where it offers one, signed in once by you, or by using the app in a browser the way you would. Each automation gets only the connections you give it, and the tools a page names are examples you can swap for your own.
Does it run when my computer is asleep?: It keeps your computer awake while a job runs and just before a scheduled one. While the computer is closed or off, nothing runs; when it wakes, it checks the inbox, calendar and other sources it watches for anything that arrived meanwhile.
How does my team use it?: Each person who runs automations installs the app. Keep a project in a shared folder, such as Google Drive or a network drive, and teammates can open it and follow every run, while one person owns it and runs it.
Do I need anyone technical to set it up?: No. Download the app, add an automation in plain words, and connect only what that job needs. Nothing runs until you switch it on.

Already have tools for this? Here is the difference.

Instead ofGood atWhere it stops

Rules in your accounting software

Coding recurring transactions the same way every time.

They can't read an unusual invoice, ask the requester a question or explain why a match failed.

Flowchart automation tools

Moving data between apps at high volume.

Every exception becomes another branch someone has to build, test and maintain.

AI chat assistants

Explaining a document when you paste it in.

Nothing happens until you come back and ask again, and the procedure lives in a chat.

AUTOMATE.md

Your routine, written in plain words. It runs on its own, follows your rules, handles the exceptions a flowchart can't, and asks you when it matters. The file stays yours, whichever AI model runs it.

Other setups for the same job.

Blocked Task Alert

When a close task is marked blocked, message the owner the upstream task holding it up and the date the dependent task is now at risk.

When a close task is marked blocked

Close Date Risk Check

Every Friday during the close window, compare the open close tasks with the days left and email the controller which items would have to be deferred to hold the date.

Every Friday during the close window

Journal Approval Reminder

Every business day at 4:00pm, pull pending journal approvals and email each approver the amount and age of what is waiting on them.

Every business day at 4:00pm

Related workflows

Bank and GL Reconciliation

Match every bank and card statement line to a ledger entry and clear the residual difference before reporting.

4 automations

Financial reporting

Produce the management pack from closed figures that tie to the ledger, with every line traceable to the transactions behind it.

Write your own

Audit prep

Collect audit evidence while the period is still open, so the request list stays short and no figure has to be rebuilt after it is asked for.