Common questions

Most teams are up and running in under 15 minutes. You start in the Checklist Builder — pick a template, customize it to your close process, and your dashboard is generated automatically from what you configure. Then export a CSV from your accounting system and drop it in.

If you want a guided onboarding call, Pro plan customers get one included.

No. CloseGuard is designed to work without IT involvement. Your accounting team can set it up themselves using CSV exports from your existing system. No API keys, no IT tickets, no waiting in a queue.

CloseGuard works with any system that can export a CSV — which is essentially all of them. We have pre-built column mappings for QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, NetSuite, Sage Intacct, and Xero.

If your system exports differently, our column-mapping wizard handles custom formats in a few clicks.

Yes — both Pilot and Pro plans include a 14-day free trial with no credit card required. You can also explore the live demo dashboard right now, no signup needed.

The Close Health Score is a 0–100 composite score that tells you, at a glance, how ready your books are to close. It's calculated across five weighted dimensions: bank reconciliation status, AR aging quality, AP status, month-end checklist completion, and GL entry quality.

It updates live as your team works — so you always know where you stand without asking anyone.

CloseGuard runs checks across 12 categories every close: duplicate entry detection, missing recurring accruals, round-number journal entries, late-period entries, vague descriptions, stale AR, overdue AP, unreconciled bank accounts, intercompany errors, payroll variance, depreciation gaps, and prepaid amortization gaps.

We add new checks monthly based on customer feedback and common audit findings.

You start with one of CloseGuard's expert-built checklist templates and customize it to fit your team's close process — adding, removing, or editing tasks, assigning owners, setting priorities, and mapping tasks to the dashboard sections that matter to you.

Once configured, tasks are grouped by close phase (Day 1–2, Day 3–5, Day 6+) with Due By dates, Done By signoffs, and Approved By signoffs. Checklist completion feeds directly into the live Health Score. Pro plan teams can also attach SOP links and file paths to each task.

The key difference: CloseGuard's dashboard is built from your checklist, not the other way around. Your workflow shapes the product, not a generic template.

Yes — CloseGuard includes expert-built close checklist templates covering the full month-end workflow: bank reconciliations, AR follow-up, AP review, accruals, journal entry review, prepaid amortization, depreciation, and CFO sign-off.

You use the Checklist Builder to pick the template that fits your team, then customize tasks, owners, phases, and priorities to match your exact close process. Your finished checklist automatically generates your dashboard layout, close timeline, and health score weighting — so what you configure is what you get.

Yes. Pro plan includes multi-user access with role-based permissions. Team members can post notes, flag issues, tag colleagues, and sign off on tasks — all in the same dashboard. The Pilot plan is designed for a single primary user.

No — CloseGuard sits on top of your existing system. You keep using QuickBooks, NetSuite, Sage, or whatever you're on. CloseGuard is a close-management and quality-control layer that reads your exported data and gives you visibility and confidence you can't get from your GL alone.

The Pilot plan ($99/mo) is for a single entity and a single primary user. It includes all 60+ automated checks, the Health Score, and the close checklist. Great for validating CloseGuard before rolling it out wider.

The Pro plan ($299/mo) adds unlimited entities, multi-user access, Done By / Approved By signoff workflows, SOP links per task, historical close trend reports, and a dedicated onboarding call.

Month-to-month, cancel anytime. No annual lock-in, no cancellation fees. We'd rather earn your business every month.

Yes. If you're managing a large number of entities, need a custom SLA, or require specific security or compliance provisions, contact us and we'll work something out.

Data is stored in SOC 2-compliant cloud infrastructure in the United States. All data is encrypted in transit (TLS 1.2+) and at rest (AES-256). We do not sell or share your data with third parties.

Only you and your designated team members. CloseGuard staff can access data only for the purpose of resolving a support issue, and only with your explicit permission. Access logs are maintained.

Yes. You can request a full data export and deletion at any time by emailing cooperksteve25@gmail.com. Deletion is completed within 30 days. See our Privacy Policy for full details.