All I Want for Christmas Is a Clean Close: Episode 090

As the year comes to a close, finance teams everywhere are under pressure to deliver accurate results on tight timelines, often while juggling time off, audits, and last-minute changes. In Episode 090 of CPM Customer Success, Andy Smetana takes a timely look at what it really takes to achieve a clean, confident year-end close. Using a holiday-themed framework, the episode breaks down how modern close practices, supported by unified CPM technology, can turn what is traditionally a stressful season into a more controlled and predictable process.

Episode Summary

This episode compares the year-end close to preparing for the holidays, walking through each stage of the process and where finance teams commonly struggle. Andy begins with close planning and task visibility, emphasizing how a lack of transparency often leads to missed steps, delays, and unnecessary last-minute pressure. Guided workflows and real-time status tracking help finance leaders understand exactly where the close stands without relying on emails, spreadsheets, or institutional knowledge.

The conversation then shifts to data integration and validation, where complexity tends to grow as organizations manage multiple ERPs, charts of accounts, and global entities. Automated data loads and built-in validation rules help surface issues early, reducing manual reconciliation and improving confidence in the numbers before reporting begins.

Automation plays a central role throughout the discussion, particularly for repetitive close activities such as intercompany eliminations, currency translations, journal validations, and roll-forwards. By consolidating these processes into a single platform, finance teams reduce dependency on individual system experts and improve resilience during critical periods like year-end.

The episode also highlights a real-world example from a global manufacturing organization that replaced a patchwork of legacy systems with a unified CPM platform. The result was greater control, improved visibility, and a more reliable close process that empowered local teams while maintaining corporate oversight. The episode concludes by showing how a well-executed close enables faster, more confident reporting and creates space for finance leaders to focus on strategic conversations rather than damage control.

Listen now:

What You’ll Learn

• Why visibility and structured close planning are critical to a smooth year-end close

• How automated data integration and validation reduce reconciliation risk

• The role automation plays in simplifying repetitive close activities

• How unified CPM platforms reduce dependency on key individuals during year-end

• What a clean close enables beyond reporting, including more strategic finance leadership

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