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Month-end checklist

A step-by-step guide to closing your books and producing accurate owner statements

Updated today

VRTrust Month-End Checklist

  1. Import bank transactions

  2. Review non-reservation amounts and co-host deposits

  3. Reconcile Stripe and Airbnb deposits

  4. Record expenses

    1. Import expenses via CSV

    2. Import multi-line expenses

    3. Update expenses in VRTrust (if needed)

  5. Bank reconciliation - expense capture

  6. Review guest balances - add fee adjustments

  7. Review guest balances - add financial adjustments

  8. Review trust balance reconciliation report

  9. Review and finalize PM statement

  10. Publish owner statements

1️⃣ Complete Bank Reconciliations (Non-Negotiable)

Month-end starts with cash.

☐ Import all bank activity

  • Ensure all bank feeds are up to date through the last day of the month

  • Upload missing transactions via CSV if needed or if not connected via Plaid

☐ Reconcile all trust and operating accounts

⚠️ Owner statements should never be finalized before bank reconciliation is complete.

2️⃣ Review Unmatched Deposits & Non-reservation Items

☐ Clear unmatched deposits

  • Match deposits to:

    • Airbnb / OTA payouts

    • Stripe or card processor deposits

    • Manual payments

  • Confirm deposits are tied to the correct reservations

☐ Review any deposits with non-reservation lines

Common examples:

  • Advanced Deposits / Guest AR receipts with no reservation attached. These lines should be assigned to a reservation if necessary or edited and reclassed to revenue or expense to owners or the property management company.

3️⃣ Validate Reservation Financials

☐ Review Guest Balances Report

Check for:

  • Negative balances

  • Unpaid reservations

☐ Make the necessary financial adjustments to guest balances

4️⃣ Verify Fees, Commissions & Taxes

☐ Review management commissions

  • Confirm management commission check columns in owner statements are consistent with the listing management commission %

5️⃣ Post, Upload, or Pull Billable Expenses from External Sources

Before owner balances and statements are finalized, all owner-billable expenses must exist in VRTrust, regardless of where they originated.

☐ Identify external expense sources

Common sources include:

  • External accounting software (e.g., QuickBooks Online)

  • Operational platforms (e.g., Breezeway)

  • Spend management platforms (e.g., Ramp)

  • Vendor bills paid outside VRTrust

☐ Import or sync expenses into VRTrust

External accounting software

Operational platforms

  • Import completed work orders

  • Validate:

    • Labor vs materials

    • Owner vs PM responsibility

    • Listing mapping

Spend management platforms

  • Sync card transactions and bills

  • Review:

    • Expense account coding

    • Listing assignment

    • Owner vs PM allocation

Manual uploads

  • Upload expenses via CSV if needed

☐ Review expense readiness

For each imported expense, confirm:

  • ✔ Correct listing/property

  • ✔ Correct owner allocation

  • ✔ Correct expense account

  • ✔ Included in the correct statement period

  • ✔ No duplicates across systems

⚠️ Expenses that do not exist in VRTrust will not appear on owner statements, even if they exist in external systems.

6️⃣ Validate Owner Statements

☐ Preview owner statements (Draft)

Review:

  • Net revenue totals

  • Expense details

  • Management fees

  • Formatting and visibility

☐ Resolve statement validation warnings

Address issues such as:

  • “Net revenue does not match GL”

  • Unmapped accounts

  • Missing template mappings

7️⃣Review Trust Balance Reconciliation Report

☐ Run the Trust Balance Reconciliation Report

  • Confirm:

    • Total trust cash = total trust liabilities

    • No unexplained variances exist

☐ Review trust liability components

Validate balances for:

  • Owner payables

  • Advanced deposits / guest balances

  • Deferred revenue

  • Other trust-held funds

☐ Resolve discrepancies

  • Investigate any differences between:

    • Bank balances

    • Trust liability totals

  • Clear or document any timing differences before proceeding

⚠️ If the Trust Balance Reconciliation does not tie, do not proceed to statements.

8️⃣ Finalize and Publish Statements

  • Confirm no further changes are expected

  • Ensure all reconciliations are complete

☐ Publish owner statements

  • Move from Draft → In Review → Published

  • Confirm owners have portal access

☐ Pay Owners

9️⃣ Review & Post Property Management Statement

This step confirms the property manager’s income and expenses are finalized.

☐ Review Property Management (PM) Statement

☐ Post / finalize PM statement

  • Lock the period once reviewed

  • Ensure no further changes are expected

Sync to External Accounting Software (Optional)

If syncing to QBO or Xero:

☐ Push finalized general ledger data

☐ Resolve sync errors

  • Spot-check trust liability and operating balances

🔟 Month-End Sign-Off

☐ Final confirmation

  • ✔ Banks reconciled

  • ✔ Clearing accounts reviewed

  • ✔ External expenses included

  • ✔ Owner balances make sense

  • ✔ Statements published

☐ Document exceptions

  • Note any known issues carried forward

  • Flag follow-ups for support or internal review

1️⃣1️⃣

📌 Best Practices

  • Reconcile weekly, not just monthly

  • Import external expenses before owner payouts

  • Never edit prior periods after statements are published

  • Treat owner statements like financial statements — accuracy > speed

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