Question 1

How does Aleq automate the month-end close?

Accepted Answer

Aleq is an AI accounting platform that runs the month-end close continuously instead of as an end-of-month sprint. It reconciles bank accounts, ties every subledger to the GL daily, applies AP cutoff, releases deferred revenue, and posts routine accruals and depreciation as their inputs arrive — then drafts the judgment calls, writes the flux narrative, and tracks the critical path across every entity on one board. Mechanical entries post automatically once they have an established track record; material estimates come drafted for your approval; the period seal is always yours. The design goal is a close that ends in a day of review rather than a week of catch-up, with every entry logged, explained, and reversible.

Question 2

What is month-end close software?

Accepted Answer

Month-end close software helps finance teams finish the accounting period: reconciling accounts, posting journal entries, reviewing variances, and locking the books. Most tools in the category, like FloQast and BlackLine, are checklist and workflow managers that sit on top of your ERP and track work your team still does by hand. Aleq is different: it's an AI accountant with its own double-entry ledger that does the close work itself — reconciliations, subledger tie-outs, accruals, flux narrative — and leaves your team the review and the sign-off. The checklist clears itself; you seal the period.

Question 3

What is a continuous close in accounting?

Accepted Answer

A continuous close spreads month-end work across the whole month instead of compressing it into close week. Subledgers reconcile to the general ledger as transactions land, recurring accruals and depreciation post on schedule, and cutoff is applied as invoices arrive — so when the calendar flips, most of the close is already done. Aleq runs a continuous close natively: AR ties to deposits, the Stripe clearing account ties to payouts, and AP ties to open bills every day, with the period staying open and live until you review the flux and seal it. Month-end becomes a sign-off, not a sprint.

Question 4

How long should the month-end close take?

Accepted Answer

Industry surveys put the average close at more than six days, and many teams take ten or more; best-in-class teams close in three to five. The bottleneck is rarely judgment — it's the mechanical work: pulling statements, tying out subledgers, chasing variances, keying correcting entries. Aleq removes that bottleneck by doing the mechanical close continuously through the month, so by day three most tasks are done or drafted and close day is a review: read the flux narrative, accept the drafted estimates, and seal the period.

Question 5

Can AI close the books without an accountant?

Accepted Answer

No — and it shouldn't. Aleq automates the mechanical close: reconciliations, subledger tie-outs, cutoff, recurring accruals, and depreciation run on their own once they have proven reliable. But judgment stays human by design: material accrual estimates come drafted with their reasoning for your approval, the flux review is yours, and the period seal can only be done by a person, no matter how confident the system gets. Nothing locks until you sign. The result isn't an accountant-free close — it's an accountant who reviews and decides instead of keying and tying out.

Question 6

What is the best month-end close software?

Accepted Answer

It depends on whether you want to manage the close or have it done. FloQast and BlackLine organize checklists, reconciliations, and sign-offs on top of NetSuite or another ERP — useful, but your team still does the work. Aleq is an AI accountant that does the close itself on its own double-entry ledger: it reconciles, ties out subledgers daily, posts routine entries, drafts estimates and the flux narrative, and tracks the critical path across entities — while the seal stays human. It connects read-only, is live in 48 hours, and every entry is logged and reversible.

Question 7

How do you close the books across multiple entities?

Accepted Answer

Each entity keeps its own books, but the group close is one project with one critical path. The classic failure mode is discovering on day five that a missing vendor invoice in one subsidiary blocks the consolidated seal. Aleq puts every entity — US parent, treasury, Singapore, Mexico, UK, Germany — on one close board, runs each entity's tasks as its inputs are ready, and seals them in dependency order. A blocker like a missing invoice behind a German VAT reconciliation surfaces on day two as the one thing standing between you and a sealed group, not as a day-five surprise.

Question 8

Can you change the numbers after the books are closed?

Accepted Answer

Not silently. In Aleq, a sealed period is locked to everyone, including the AI: every journal in it is signed, the audit package is built, and the whole thing is pinned tamper-evident. If a correction is genuinely needed, there are only two visible paths: reopen the period and re-sign it on the record, or post a prior-period adjustment to the open period where everyone can see it. Either way there is a trail. When someone asks three quarters later how a number was reached, the answer is already saved.

Question 9

Will books closed with AI hold up in an audit?

Accepted Answer

That determination rests with your auditor, but the system maintains what an audit examines. In Aleq, every close task carries its journal entries, its supporting documents, and a sign-off attributed to a named person; every automated posting shows the reasoning behind it, and your auto-post controls are visible and testable — which is what SOX and financial-statement auditors actually examine. The sealed period is tamper-evident, and the entire trail exports as a ready-made audit package: statements, support, and history. Auditors don't need the work done by hand; they need to see who approved what, when, and why.

Question 10

How long does it take to implement month-end close software?

Accepted Answer

Traditional close software takes eight to twelve weeks to implement, and ERP migrations take months. Aleq is live in 48 hours: it connects read-only to your banks, payment processors, and existing systems, learns your close from your actual books, and starts running tasks — reconciliations first, then more as each task earns trust. It runs alongside your current stack from that read-only connection, maintaining its own double-entry ledger as the system of record for its work, and every entry it posts is logged and reversible while your team builds confidence in what it does.

Subledger	Difference	State
AR ↔ lockbox deposits247 checks matched to the penny	$0.00	tied
Stripe clearing ↔ payoutsgross less fees, traced to Recurly	$0.00	tied
AP ↔ open billscutoff applied, accrued to period	$0.00	tied
Recurring accruals & depreciationposted on schedule	—	posted
7 subledgers, every one of 6 entities	$0.00	tied

Closes the month. Day by day.

Today, the close is a day you block off.

The close never stops.

It earns autonomy one close task at a time.

Sealed and signed.

What CFOs ask first.

Run your next close with Aleq.