---
id: KB-LE-014
url: https://app.codecontract.io/help/legal/period-end-and-the-documents-that-arrive-late
idioma: en
categoria: sector-legal
subcategoria: fiscal
audiencia: usuario
nivel: intermedio
actualizado: 2026-08-13
tambienEn: [es]
relacionados: [KB-CS-022, KB-LE-011]
citadoPor: [KB-LE-027]
---

# Period end and the documents that arrive late

_Every period end is the same race with the same clients, and it is won before the deadline or not at all._

**Responde a:** collecting client documents for period end · clients send invoices late · quarterly close accountancy · chasing documents from clients

An accountancy practice does not have a workload problem: it has a calendar problem. The work bunches into a few days because clients send when they remember, and the part that consumes time is not filing — it is chasing and reconstructing who sent what.

## The three gaps that repeat every period end

| Gap | How it shows | What closes it |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Incomplete documentation | The same items missing from the same clients | A fixed request with a list, not a generic email |
| Documentation arriving badly | Illegible photos, protected PDFs, items from another period | Saying so on receipt, not at closing |
| Documentation that arrived and cannot be found | It is in someone's inbox | Having it come in through the client's route, not a mailbox |

> [!IMPORTANT]
> The third causes the most arguments and looks least like a process problem. When a client says "I sent you that" and is right — they did, to the inbox of someone on holiday — the conversation stops being about their delay and becomes about your organisation. Having submissions always arrive through the same place removes that conversation entirely.

## What changes the outcome, built once

1. **One request per client and period, always the same** — With that client's specific list, not a circular.
2. **Start before the period ends** — What is requested on day 1 arrives in time; what is requested on day 20 does not.
3. **Automatic, spaced reminders** — It is the part a person does today and need not.
4. **And a visible list of who is missing** — For the targeted final push, and for the conversation afterwards.

> [!WARNING]
> The nuance that protects the practice: **keep evidence of what you requested and when**, not only of what you received. If a year later there is a review and the client insists they gave you something, what places you is not your memory: it is the dated request with what was asked and the record of what arrived. Without that, it is word against word and you are the one holding it.

## What you can show the client

**En corto**

- What they are missing, in plain language.
- What they delivered and when, so they do not send it twice.
- And how long it has been outstanding, which is what changes behaviour.

That visibility cuts "is it all in yet?" calls and, above all, moves the ball: a client who can see their gap fills it sooner than one who has to be phoned.

> [!NOTE]
> Deadlines and what documentation is mandatory depend on each client's regime and they change. **That is your territory and your professional judgement**; what is described here is how to collect and evidence, not what must be filed.

**What about clients who send everything on paper?**

Have them photograph it from their phone via their link: it is what gets adopted most.

**Is it worth it for a small portfolio?**

The saving is in repetition: twenty clients every quarter already justify it.

**Can I give the client access to their own file?**

Yes, and it usually cuts status queries considerably.

## Ejemplos

**A practice spends the last five days of each quarter chasing documents.**

- Sends the per-client request on day one of the period and leaves reminders on automatic

→ Reaches the deadline with most of it complete and with a record of what was asked of whom, and when.

**Close-out documentation arrives in January.**

- Requests through the year what will be needed

→ Close-out stops being a campaign.

**A client sends their material whenever they remember.**

- Requests and chases automatically

→ Follow-up occupies nobody.

**A document is missing and the close is delayed.**

- Checks what is missing per client

→ The gap shows before the date.

**The close uses a provisional figure and nobody corrects it.**

- Flags what is provisional and reviews it

→ What is pending is not forgotten.

**The next close repeats the same work.**

- Reuses the previous period's process

→ The second close costs a fraction.