Month-end close best practices
Fix it, Approve it, or Exclude it
Each report in Double presents a list of issues to review. (For example, Transactions without Payees shows all transactions that are missing a vendor or customer.)
Within each report, some issues may require fixing, while others can be dismissed. The goal of each report is to work through the list so all issues are addressed before the close is completed.
With that in mind, there are three ways to address a transaction:
FIX IT: Correct the error. For example, add a payee in the transactions without payees report.
APPROVE IT: if nothing needs to be fixed about a transaction, click the thumbs up to approve it.
EXCLUDE IT: if a certain type of transaction should never appear in the report, add that to the Exclusion List.
Transaction Status
When working on a report, a transaction can be marked as Reviewed by clicking the 👍 button.
Marking a transaction as reviewed hides it in the current report, though the same transaction may still appear in other reports.
Marking this transaction as reviewed will hide it in the Expense Inconsistency report, but it may still appear open in other reports.
Transaction Status vs. Question Status
Separate from Transaction Status, questions about transactions can also have one of three statuses:
Waiting on Client – a question has been asked and is awaiting a response.
Responded – the client has answered the question, but it remains open pending further action.
Resolved – no further action is required.
Transaction Status and Question Status are independent. A transaction can be marked as reviewed without resolving the associated question.
File review functionality
The More Information arrow
The More Information arrow is one of the most useful ways of finding out more about a transaction.
Clicking the arrow in the circle to the left of a transaction opens the Transaction Detail Pane, which includes the following sections:
Similar Historical Transactions
Transactions with the same payee or description, along with statistics on how similar transactions have been coded historically.Transaction Line Items
Line items associated with the transaction, if applicable.Attachments
Attachments uploaded to Double or QuickBooks, if available.
The Transaction Detail Pane can also be used to exclude transactions from reports or transfer transactions between QuickBooks files.
Report exclusion lists
Exclusion lists are used to fine-tune what appears in a given report. They allow transactions to be excluded based on vendor, description, transaction type, or account.
For example, if a payroll provider repeatedly appears in the Expense Inconsistency Report, all transactions with that payee can be excluded using the Exclusion List.
Additionally, vendors with transactions that are coded differently based on amount can also be specified in the Exclusion settings.
💡 Exclusion list settings are per-report and persist across all close periods.
Adding and removing reports
If certain reports are not needed as part of the closing process, they can be deleted by clicking the task and selecting Delete Report.
If reports need to be added later, or if additional Double reports are required, they can be added by clicking the + Add Report button below a section, selecting + Add default report, and choosing a report from the dropdown options.
Date ranges
Any report can be run over the following date options:
All Dates – all transactions in the current + last 12 months of a client's file
Past Month – all transactions in the month that you are reviewing
Past 12 months – all transactions in the last 12 months of a client's file
Year to date (Year to last month) – all transactions in the current year
Quarter to date – all transactions in the current quarter (e.g., if you are in the June close, this will show transactions in April, May, and June)
Current Month – transactions in the current month
Click to open in QuickBooks / Xero
Click on a transaction's date to open it in QuickBooks or Xero from Double.
When working on a QuickBooks file, ensure the same file is open in both QuickBooks and Double.
This is necessary because the link opens a URL for a specific transaction ID but does not switch clients automatically. If the incorrect QuickBooks Online file is open, a transaction with the same ID from that file will open instead.
Xero automatically switches to the correct client.
Reordering, Showing, and Hiding Columns in Reports
Columns on Transaction Review reports can be reordered, shown, or hidden.
These settings are saved per client and per report. Changes made in one client’s report do not affect other reports for that client or reports for other clients.
