Set up and use the Close Management Skill safely

This guide explains how to place the Close Management Skill inside a controlled month-end close. It supports planning and communication, but it does not post entries and does not replace professional review or approval.

Prepare the source and client

Install the official Finance plugin through the plugin area provided by Anthropic for your client. Then confirm that the Close Management Skill is available as part of that plugin. In Claude Cowork and Claude Code, relevant tasks may activate the skill automatically. A client does not need to run the skill as a standalone application; it supplies the model with the operating guidance instead.

Adapt the close calendar

Start with the preparation window before month-end and transfer the proposed activities into your organization’s calendar. Replace general roles with named owners, add local deadlines, and mark work that must be completed earlier because of statutory, group, or contractual requirements. Also define the evidence required before a task can be considered complete.

Maintain dependencies and status

Assign independent activities first, such as recording cash activity, retrieving bank statements, or preparing standard accruals. Reconciliations, balance-sheet controls, and reporting follow after their prerequisites are complete. A task should not be marked complete until the expected review and documentation exist. A blocked task should identify the missing information, responsible party, and next escalation step.

Limit data access

When the client connects to an ERP, data warehouse, spreadsheets, or documents, use approved sources and the least privilege necessary. Separate test data from live close data and never place credentials in prompts or notes. Check every generated number against the authoritative source and document manual adjustments. Remember that a connected model may transmit data to its model provider.

Review and close the period

Have qualified finance professionals review accruals, reconciliations, tax items, eliminations, and financial statements. A preliminary soft close is not the same as a final period lock. Only after documented management review and required approvals should the authorized person execute the hard close in the ERP. Hold a short retrospective afterward and record recurring blockers as process improvements.