Short answer: A well run restaurant close takes 5 to 10 business days and follows the same order every month: sales and cash first, then vendor invoices, then payroll, then third party delivery, then reconciliations, then review, then the P&L. The timeline slips for one of two reasons, and neither is accounting. Either documents arrive late or nobody owns a step. This is the calendar that fixes both.
Most operators have never seen a close plan written down, which is why "when do I get my P&L" gets answered with a shrug. Here is what the month should look like, day by day, and who holds each piece.
| Business day after period end | What happens | Who owns it |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Final daily sales posted, cash counted and deposited, comps and voids reviewed | GM or manager on duty |
| Days 1 to 3 | All vendor invoices for the period submitted, including the ones in the office drawer | Operator and AP process |
| Day 3 | Payroll for the period recorded, including accrued wages, tips and tip outs | Bookkeeper, from payroll data |
| Days 3 to 5 | Third party delivery statements pulled and reconciled to gross sales | Bookkeeper |
| Days 4 to 6 | Bank, credit card and merchant accounts reconciled | Bookkeeper |
| Days 5 to 7 | Inventory value recorded, prepaid and accrual entries posted | Bookkeeper with operator input |
| Days 6 to 8 | Review: variance check against prior period and budget, unusual items chased down | Reviewer or controller, not the preparer |
| Days 7 to 10 | P&L and balance sheet issued, questions answered | Bookkeeper to operator |
Notice that the first three days are almost entirely yours, not your bookkeeper's. That is the part operators are surprised by, and it is the part that determines whether day 10 holds.
In order of frequency:
Beyond about 15 business days the report stops being a management tool, which is the argument made in why your P&L arrives too late to matter.
Four changes, in the order that produces results fastest:
If you compare week to week and manage labor tightly, periods are worth the switch, because calendar months contain different numbers of weekends. If your reporting needs line up with vendor and tax calendars, months are simpler. Either is defensible. Mixing them is not.
Posting the entries you can and issuing a P&L with known estimates flagged, then finalizing later. Useful when you need direction quickly, dangerous if the estimates never get corrected.
Whoever can act on it. In most groups that is the owner, the GM, and the chef or kitchen manager, each looking at a different section. A report only the owner reads changes very little.
Two tests: every balance sheet account is reconciled to a statement or a schedule, and prime cost moves in a way you can explain. Fast books that are not reconciled are just quick guesses.
That is worth a direct conversation. A close date is a commitment both sides make, and it requires your invoices on time as much as their work on time. If the date cannot be committed to after that conversation, you have your answer.
Want to know where your close is actually losing days? Take the FIXE Health Score quiz.