Practical, step-by-step answers for accounts payable, payment fraud, month-end close, reconciliations, fixed assets and cash. Free to read, no sign-up.
Excel formulas that catch the duplicate invoices exact-match checks miss: normalised references, cross-supplier matches and repeats within a date window.
Read the guide →Find and recover duplicate supplier payments from the last 12 to 24 months: what to extract, which tests to run, how to confirm and how to recover.
Read the guide →Clean up your vendor master: block dormant suppliers, merge duplicates, fill missing data, verify bank details and restrict who can change records.
Read the guide →Which accounts payable duties must be separated, why each combination is risky, a simple duties matrix, and compensating controls for small finance teams.
Read the guide →What to check before releasing a supplier payment run: totals, duplicates, bank changes, new suppliers, unusual payments and the bank file itself.
Read the guide →How to design an invoice approval workflow: an approval matrix by amount, PO and non-PO routes, and the tests that catch split invoices and self-approval.
Read the guide →How to read an accounts payable ageing report, reconcile it to the ledger, and spot debit balances, stuck invoices and overdue suppliers before they cost you.
Read the guide →A step-by-step accounts payable month-end checklist: cut-off, goods received not invoiced, supplier statements, debit balances and the ledger tie-out.
Read the guide →Build a rolling 13-week cash flow forecast using the direct method: structure, data sources, a cash buffer line, the weekly roll and variance tracking.
Read the guide →A step-by-step credit control process with an example chase schedule, dispute handling, DSO measurement and the UK statutory late-payment rules.
Read the guide →Five overdue invoice reminder emails, from a friendly pre-due note to a final notice, with the timing for each and what to include so invoices get paid.
Read the guide →How to calculate a bad debt provision for trade receivables with a provision matrix under IFRS 9 or CECL, with a worked example and the steps to support it.
Read the guide →What a credit control policy should cover: credit checks, limits, payment terms, the collection timetable, account holds, disputes and write-off approval.
Read the guide →The cash conversion cycle formula (DIO + DSO - DPO), a worked example, and practical ways to shorten it so less cash is tied up in running the business.
Read the guide →How to set a minimum cash buffer: three methods, a worked example, and how to test a weekly cash forecast against it so a shortfall shows up early.
Read the guide →How to monitor loan covenants such as leverage, interest cover and minimum liquidity: calculate headroom, forecast it forward and act before a test date.
Read the guide →An honest comparison of close management software and Excel for the month-end close: cost, set-up, audit trail and the point where each makes sense.
Read the guide →Four ways to stop or recover duplicate supplier payments, from built-in ERP checks to recovery audits, what each catches and misses, and how to combine them.
Read the guide →What separates a free finance template from a control system: tests on your data, blocked sign-off, evidence and review. When a free template is enough.
Read the guide →What to test in an expense claim and corporate card audit: duplicates, receipts, policy breaches, split transactions and mileage, plus how to choose a sample.
Read the guide →The fields every fixed asset register needs, how to reconcile the register to the general ledger each period, and how to stop ghost assets building up.
Read the guide →Straight-line and reducing balance depreciation explained with worked examples and Excel's SLN, DB and DDB formulas, plus how to choose a method.
Read the guide →How to set a capitalisation threshold so small purchases are expensed and real assets capitalised, plus the UK and US tax rules that sit alongside it.
Read the guide →How to account for selling or scrapping a fixed asset: depreciation to the disposal date, the journal entry, the gain or loss calculation and a worked example.
Read the guide →Close the books faster by moving work out of close week: a dated close calendar, early reconciliations, set cut-offs, journal templates and materiality.
Read the guide →How to calculate and post accruals and prepayments at month end, with journal entries, worked examples, reversals and the schedules that support each balance.
Read the guide →Build a month-end close calendar in Excel that dates every task by working day, skips weekends and holidays, and flags late tasks automatically.
Read the guide →The controls that stop manual journals becoming a route for error or fraud: approval by someone else, support for every entry and review of late entries.
Read the guide →A year-end audit preparation checklist: the reconciliations, schedules and evidence auditors ask for, and how to prepare them before fieldwork starts.
Read the guide →How business email compromise hits accounts payable: fake supplier emails, hijacked mailboxes, urgent executive requests, and the controls that stop it.
Read the guide →Twelve red flags that a supplier invoice may be fake or fraudulent, grouped by supplier, invoice and request, with what to check before you pay.
Read the guide →The checks to run before paying a new supplier: business existence, tax numbers, bank verification, employee matching, duplicates, sanctions and approval.
Read the guide →How the UK's Confirmation of Payee and the EU's Verification of Payee name checks work, what the results mean, and the AP controls they do not replace.
Read the guide →Fraudsters now fake an executive's voice and face on live calls. The payment controls that still work when you cannot trust what you see or hear.
Read the guide →Twelve practical payment fraud controls for finance teams, covering supplier set-up, bank changes, approvals and the payment run, and the fraud each one stops.
Read the guide →Reconcile a supplier statement to your ledger: match payments and invoices, classify every difference, agree the balance and spot red flags.
Read the guide →A step-by-step bank reconciliation in Excel: the layout, matching formulas, adjusting both balances, ageing open items and the review that makes it a control.
Read the guide →How to run balance sheet reconciliations every month: account ownership, risk rating, the evidence each account needs, handling reconciling items and review.
Read the guide →What a suspense account is, why balances build up in it, and a monthly routine to clear every item to the right account before the books are signed off.
Read the guide →How to reconcile intercompany balances between group companies, agree differences before consolidation and stop the same mismatches recurring every month.
Read the guide →Match bank, ledger or supplier transactions in Excel with a matching key, COUNTIFS and XLOOKUP, including repeated amounts, and list what is left unmatched.
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