When a key member of the accounting team at a mid-sized private manufacturing company announced their resignation weeks before a month-end close, the organization faced an immediate operational challenge. The departing Senior Accountant held critical institutional knowledge, from coding workflows to vendor management processes, that could not simply be handed off without a deliberate, structured plan. Rather than waiting for a permanent hire, the company turned to DLC, a trusted partner from prior engagements, to deploy an experienced consultant who could step in immediately, absorb and document existing workflows, and deliver an uninterrupted close.
Over a four-month engagement, our consultant spanned multiple close cycles and led targeted improvement initiatives that positioned the company for a smooth transition to permanent staff and an upcoming system migration.
The departure of the Senior Accountant created a compounding set of risks for the finance function. Month-end close is among the most time-sensitive periods in any accounting cycle, and losing a key contributor immediately before that window introduced real exposure. Permanent replacement timelines simply don’t move at the pace an active close demands; a search measured in weeks is incompatible with a deadline measured in days. Effective knowledge transfer added another layer of complexity, requiring active side-by-side collaboration to capture processes that were often informal and undocumented, all while keeping the close on track.
Our team also identified a systemic process gap compounding the pressure. With roughly 40 active credit card users generating 1,100 to 1,300 transactions per month, timely General Ledger coding was essential to close readiness. When our consultant arrived, 90 transactions remained uncoded at the submission deadline, forcing the accounting team to chase submissions rather than focus on quality review — a structural bottleneck that would persist through every future close if left unaddressed.
Our consultant embedded alongside the departing Senior Accountant, absorbing workflows in real time while simultaneously owning active month-end close responsibilities. We treated knowledge transfer and close execution as equally mission-critical from day one.
The documentation effort produced approximately 20 step-by-step procedure documents covering the full scope of the Senior Accountant role. Each was written to explain not just the steps, but the reasoning behind them, then tested and refined to ensure clarity and consistency. The result was a reference library built to support the incoming hire, temporary coverage, or any future transition.
To close the credit card coding gap, we implemented early reminders ahead of submission deadlines, direct outreach to users falling behind, and escalation to managers and directors when needed. Regular client communication, daily when conditions required it and weekly at minimum, kept the engagement fully transparent throughout.
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