Month end checklist

Close your books faster by preventing common export blockers, setting a clear cut-off, and exporting clean data from Pleo to your accounting system.

1. Prevent exporting blockers

These are the most common issues that delay month end. Tackle them before you move anything to the Export queue.

1. Check for missing receipts
   • Remind employees of your internal submission deadline
   • Review your approval flow to ensure the right people can review on time
   • If needed, consider card auto-freeze for repeat offenders (availability depends on plan and market)
2. Fix missing or incorrect expense details
   • Check expenses for the right category, tags, and notes
   • If categories are often wrong, review your category setup so employees can find the right option
   • If required, enable mandatory fields in Settings → Submission requirements
3. Review refunds and chargebacks
   • Confirm your internal posting approach so you export the right information consistently
4. Resolve out-of-policy spend
   • Ensure your policies are set up in Pleo
   • Add context and resolve exceptions before export so there are no open questions during close
5. Confirm reimbursements are complete
   • If you use Expense date locking for out-of-pocket claims, confirm the lock date and communicate it clearly to employees

2. Get ready for export

1. Set a monthly cut-off date and time
   • Example: first Friday of the month at 23:59
2. Ask employees to complete submissions before the cut-off
   • Upload missing receipts
   • Add notes, select the right category, and add any required tags
3. Complete all reviews and approvals
   • Ensure reviewers have finished their checks for expenses and invoices (depending on your settings)
4. Handle outliers and exceptions
   • Personal spend
   • Expenses without a receipt (if allowed by your policy)
   • Anything still missing details
5. Move ready items to the Export queue
   • Keep items there until you do the final export

Good to know: You can’t edit expenses in the Export queue, but you can move them back to Unexported if you need to make changes.

3. Export to your accounting system

1. Export via integration
   • Move items from Export queue to Exported
   • Your integration will map the data into your accounting system based on your configuration
2. Export via CSV
   • Move items from Export queue to Exported
   • Download the CSV file and the receipts folder
   • Use your configured CSV format to minimise manual editing before upload

Once an expense or invoice is Exported, you can’t edit it in Pleo, so make sure everything is correct first

4. Post-close checks

After posting in your accounting system:

• Reconcile balances
• Save a copy of your CSV export (if relevant)
• Record any reconciliation adjustments
• Note any exceptions you handled so next month’s close is faster

5. Make next month easier

• Set a recurring mid-month reminder for receipt hygiene.
• Agree internal SLAs with employees and reviewers (for example: receipts submitted within X days, reviews completed by X date).
• Track recurring issues and address root causes (for example: update policies, improve category setup, adjust approvals).

FAQ

What if employees submit receipts late?

Decide how you want to handle late submissions and apply the rule consistently:

• Adjust the prior period in accounting (journal entry)
• Post the expense in the next period

What if I need to re-export?

If you change mappings or correct items after export, you may need to reverse and repost in your accounting system based on your internal process.