**The December close ran 30 tasks with 3 late. The reporting package (CL-30) finished 1 day late, at WD+6 against a WD+5 due date.** All 30 tasks were complete as of WD+6.

**Where the timeline slipped**

| ID | Task | Owner | Area | Due | Done | Slip |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| CL-17 | Review and sign off the accrual register | Dana Whitfield | Accruals | WD+2 | WD+4 | 2 |
| CL-08 | Post cycle count adjustments | Marcus Oyelaran | Inventory | WD+1 | WD+2 | 1 |
| CL-30 | Issue the monthly reporting package | Ruth Calloway | Reporting | WD+5 | WD+6 | 1 |

- **Cause of the delay:** CL-17 is the first late task on the critical path, so it pushed CL-30. The path runs CL-01, CL-02, CL-05, CL-16, CL-17, CL-28, CL-29, CL-30.
- **Not a cause:** CL-08 was late, but it is not on the critical path.
- **By area:** Inventory, Accruals and Reporting each had 1 late task. The other 10 areas had none.

**Sequencing problem**
- CL-21 (fixed asset roll-forward, Priya Raman) finished at WD+1. It depends on CL-20, which finished at WD+2.

**Missing evidence (complete, but no evidence reference)**
- CL-11, Review AP cutoff, owned by Tomas Herrera.
- CL-24, Prepare the sales tax return, owned by Marcus Oyelaran.

**Next close**
- **Dana Whitfield:** start the accrual register review earlier so CL-17 clears by WD+2.
- **Ruth Calloway:** hold WD+5 for CL-30 once CL-17 lands on time.
- **Marcus Oyelaran:** post the cycle count adjustments by WD+1, and attach evidence to CL-24.
- **Priya Raman:** re-sequence CL-21 after CL-20.
- **Tomas Herrera:** attach evidence to CL-11.

The data doesn't show why CL-17 ran 2 days late. Dana Whitfield would need to say whether it was late inputs or review capacity.

Files are in `output/`:
- `checklist.json`
- `checklist-note.md`

The source is `close_checklist_2025-12.csv`, 30 rows, sha256 `31db03c89bb8`.