# Interview guide: Bookkeepers' month-end close

Made on 2026-11-13 from 6 conversations.

These questions add to your usual interview; they are not the whole call. Ask about the last time they did it, not what they would want, and do not show or pitch an idea. Use the "listen for" lines to notice what matters. After each call, give the notes or the transcript to your assistant, who adds them to the study.

## Close a client's books each month

### 1. Talk to 1 person: A bookkeeper in a small firm where an assistant chases the clients

**Who to find:** Who chases clients: An assistant

**What to ask**

1. Tell me about the last bank line you could not place. How did you find out what it was?  
   *Listen for:* how long the answer took, and whether the client could explain it
2. Walk me through the last time a client asked why a number changed. What did you tell them?  
   *Listen for:* whether they had an answer ready, or had to go and dig

**What this checks:** Less time to get a client's answer on an unknown transaction (A.4.2), Fewer transactions a client cannot explain (A.4.3), Less risk of having no answer when a client asks why (A.8.5)

### 2. Talk to 1 person: A bookkeeper whose clients put their documents in a shared folder

**Who to find:** How documents arrive: In a shared folder

**What to ask**

1. Think of last month's receipts for one client. Where did each of them reach you?  
   *Listen for:* how many places they check, and any receipt filed twice
2. Tell me about the last time a bank rule put a payment in the wrong account. How did you notice?  
   *Listen for:* how they caught it, and how long it went unnoticed

**What this checks:** Fewer places you must check for a client's documents (A.2.5), Less risk of filing the same receipt twice (A.3.2), Less risk of a bank rule coding a transaction to the wrong account (A.5.2)