Nine questions sent, two answers, books closed on assumptions

Every set of books generates questions: an unexplained payment, a deposit with no invoice, a transfer that could be several things. The practice asks, and the answers arrive partially.

Closing on a guess

Deadlines do not wait for clients. The practice makes a reasonable assumption and closes. That assumption is now embedded in the accounts and is not marked anywhere as an assumption.

The same nine questions

In most client relationships the queries repeat monthly, because their cause is a habit rather than an event. Recorded and aggregated, that becomes a specific request — describe transfers between these two accounts — which fixes it permanently.

Escalation should be defined

Where an unanswered query genuinely blocks a filing, that needs to reach someone senior before the deadline rather than after. Unless queries have a status, nobody knows which ones are blocking.