How AION cuts close time

The two levers

What makes close fast or slow comes down to two things:

1. How many journal entries have to be posted manually at month-end?
2. How long does it take to prove the subledgers tie to the GL?

AION’s answers:

• Manual JEs at close: near zero — the SLA engine has been posting throughout the month
• Subledger-to-GL reconciliation: continuous — AION checks ties in real time, flagging mismatches the day they happen, not 30 days later

With those two problems solved, close becomes an orchestration exercise, not a data-entry exercise.

The period close dashboard

Navigate to: General Ledger → Period Close

AION presents the 8 steps as a dashboard. Each step shows:

• Status — Not Started, In Progress, Completed, Error
• Dependencies — which steps must finish before this one can start
• Owner — who’s assigned to run it
• Output — what it produced (files, journal batches, reconciliations)

When a step completes, the next one becomes runnable. The whole close runs in a defined, auditable sequence.

What each step does in AION

Costing period close (automated)

Navigate to Manufacturing → Costing Period Close. Click Run. AION:

• Rolls up all period material issues and completions
• Calculates final period average cost for every item
• Closes any remaining open job orders (posting variance)
• Locks the cost layer so no future transactions can back-date into this period

Output: locked cost layer. 5-15 minutes for most factories.

Depreciation (automated)

Navigate to Fixed Assets → Batch Depreciation. AION:

• Runs every asset’s depreciation schedule for the period
• Posts a consolidated journal entry to GL
• Updates accumulated depreciation balances

Output: one journal batch, one click. ~1 minute.

Payroll posting (approved, then auto)

HR team approves the pay run in HR → Pay Runs. AION’s payroll SLA resolver posts the standard payroll entry with salary, benefits, GOSI, and AP salaries breakdown.

If you have 50 employees across 3 operating units, this is one journal batch. ~30 seconds from click to posted.

FX revaluation (automated)

Navigate to General Ledger → FX Revaluation. AION:

• Identifies every foreign-currency balance on the balance sheet
• Revalues each at the month-end rate (configurable source — central bank, live API, manual)
• Posts the unrealized FX gain/loss

Output: one journal batch. Your foreign balances are now stated at month-end rates.

Allocations (automated)

Navigate to General Ledger → Allocation Schedules → Run All. AION:

• Runs every defined allocation rule (rent, utilities, overhead, etc.)
• Posts the allocation journal entries in sequence
• Respects dependencies (e.g., HQ overhead allocated first, then plant overhead redistributed)

Bank reconciliation (auto-match + manual clean-up)

Navigate to Cash Management → Bank Reconciliations. For each bank account:

• Import the statement (CSV, OFX, MT940)
• AION auto-matches by reference + amount + date (typical match rate: 90-95%)
• The remaining 5-10% are reviewed manually

Unmatched items fall into buckets:

• Timing (in transit) — documented and carried to next period
• Bank fees not yet posted — quick JE
• True mismatches — investigate and correct

Subledger close (one click per subledger)

For each of AP, AR, Inventory, Fixed Assets, Cash Management, click Close Period. AION verifies the tie:

• AP subledger sum = GL 2100 balance (to the qirsh)
• AR subledger sum = GL 1100 balance
• Inventory subledger sum = GL 1200/1210/1220 balances
• Fixed Assets NBV = GL 1400−1500 balances

If there’s a tie break, AION shows the difference and you investigate before proceeding. No tie break → click Close → done.

GL close (one click)

With all subledgers closed and all steps above completed, navigate to General Ledger → Periods → [month] → Close.

The period status flips from Open to Closed. The trial balance is frozen. Financial statements for that period are now reproducible.

Close time: before vs. after

Step	Manual close	AION close
Costing	2-3 days (spreadsheets + reconciliation)	15 minutes
Depreciation	0.5 day	1 minute
Payroll	1 day (manual JE)	30 seconds
FX revaluation	0.5 day (or skipped)	1 minute
Allocations	1 day (spreadsheet-driven)	2 minutes
Bank rec	1-2 days per bank	20-30 minutes total
Subledger close	1-2 days (investigating ties)	5 minutes (ties are continuous, so usually clean)
GL close	0.5 day (final review)	5 minutes
Total	7-10 working days	~2 hours, over 1-2 days

The big gains are in costing, allocations, and bank rec — where manual spreadsheet work compounds and time-consuming reconciliation dominates.

Configuration you do once

• Close calendar — periods defined for the year (monthly, with prior/future cutoffs)
• Depreciation schedules — per asset class, per country
• Allocation rules — source accounts, target cost centers, methods (percentage, formula)
• FX sources — which exchange rate source to use
• Subledger tie accounts — which GL account represents each subledger control
• Approval workflows — who can close each subledger, who can close the GL

After that, every month follows the same predictable rhythm.

Next lesson

In Lesson 4 — Lab, you’ll run a full March 2026 close in the demo in about 10 minutes.