Field guides · 02
Closing the month without a CFO,
in seven working days
A kit for a founder who keeps the books and an accountant who finishes them: who does what, the close calendar, the handover.
Field guide 0210 pages · 6 steps · 5 checklists · 6 templatesPDF and templates in one ZIPOctober 2026 edition
Who it's for
Your accountant isn't slow,
they're reconstructing your month
For a founder who keeps the books during the month and hands them to an outside accountant at the end of it.
An outside accountant who bills ten hours for a twelve-person company's month is rarely doing ten hours of accounting. They're asking what a $3,180 card charge was, waiting for a statement nobody downloaded, and re-importing a file because a row changed after you sent it.
Almost all of that is work only you can do, because you were there. The guide moves it to your side of the table, in a fixed week, so that what reaches the accountant is a file they import and a short email, and their hours go to the parts that need an accountant.
The short version
The guide's rules first,
the pages show how to set up each one
Your job ends at "every row is explained and has its paper." Adjusting entries are the accountant's.
Map your categories to their account codes once, together, and never guess a code again.
Close on a fixed day. A month that keeps moving after you hand it over costs more than a late one.
Send a file and seven lines of email, not a folder.
What's inside
6 steps, in setup order,
each ending in a checklist or a template
- Step 1Who does whatWrite the line between you and the accountant.Template 1, who does what at month endp. 3
- Step 2The close calendarSeven working days, the same every month.Template 2, the close calendar, and a checklist before day 1p. 4
- Step 3Every movement inAn account nobody remembers is the expensive one.Template 3, the account inventoryp. 5
- Step 4Every row explainedAnd the paper behind it.Template 4, the receipt ask, and the checklist for a finished rowp. 6
- Step 5Account codes, onceOne call, with their chart open.Template 5, category to account code, and what to bring to the callp. 7
- Step 6Close and hand overOne file, one email, one rule for changes.The package checklist and Template 6, the handover emailp. 8
- The caseWhat went wrong in AugustA closed month moved, and it was nobody's fault: a card refund dated in August arrived after the accountant had imported the file. What to do the same day.p. 9
The 6 templates, in the same download
- 01-who-does-what.csv
- Agreeing the line with your accountant
- 02-close-calendar.csv
- The seven days, by person
- 03-account-inventory.csv
- Every account, and whether it agrees
- 04-receipt-ask.txt
- Asking for one receipt so it gets answered
- 05-account-codes.csv
- The mapping call
- 06-handover-email.txt
- The seven-line email
The illustrative case
Northwind Studio is a demo company,
its books seeded in Orla
The same studio as field guide 01: twelve people, a Delaware LLC, dollars in Mercury, euros and pounds in Airwallex, a TRON wallet for the contractors paid in USDT, and an outside accountant who works in Xero.
Northwind is a demo company. Its books are seeded in Orla, and every screenshot in the guide is a frame recorded from the working product on those books. The names, amounts and addresses are invented.
The guides are general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. What applies to your company is a question for your accountant and, where a country's rules come in, a local adviser.
After you ask
One email, with one link,
and nothing else unless you ask
- Leave your emailTeam size is optional. It tells us which companies the guides reach.
- Open one email from OrlaIt names the guide and carries one link to a ZIP: the PDF and its 6 templates.
- Nothing else, unless you ticked the boxTicked "Send me the next field guide"? When the next one is out, we send it, and that email says how to stop. Not ticked: the first email is all.
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