1. Start with Material Accounts
- ☐ Review accounts with the largest dollar movement.
- ☐ Review accounts with the largest percentage change.
- ☐ Prioritize accounts that impact cash, margin, payroll, revenue, or tax.
- ☐ Apply a materiality threshold to avoid wasting time on noise.
2. Compare Current Month to Prior Month
- ☐ Calculate dollar variance by account.
- ☐ Calculate percentage variance by account.
- ☐ Compare current month to rolling three-month or six-month average.
- ☐ Flag accounts with unusual movement versus historical behavior.
3. Investigate Transaction Drivers
- ☐ Drill into transactions that explain the account movement.
- ☐ Identify large one-time transactions.
- ☐ Look for duplicate amounts or repeated vendor postings.
- ☐ Check whether transactions were posted to the wrong account or period.
4. Review Common Anomaly Patterns
- ☐ Same amount booked multiple times in the same month.
- ☐ Expense account suddenly above historical average.
- ☐ Prepaid or fixed asset threshold exceeded.
- ☐ Manual journal entry posted without clear support.
- ☐ Prior-period item posted into the current period.
5. Prepare Variance Explanation
- ☐ Summarize the primary driver of the variance.
- ☐ Document whether the variance is expected or requires follow-up.
- ☐ Include transaction examples and support links.
- ☐ Flag unresolved items for controller review.