CLC Month-End Reconciliation Checklist for Hotels

Month-end CLC reconciliation should answer two questions: does the closing balance agree with the supporting records, and does every unexplained item have an owner? A report with no visible declines does not answer either question. The close needs a complete stay population, billing evidence, payment allocation, and a documented bridge from opening to closing balance.

This checklist is an internal accounting control for hotel controllers and bookkeepers. It is not a Corpay submission schedule or accounting-standard prescription. Continue daily billing and exception handling under your property instructions; do not wait until month-end if a transaction needs action sooner.

Before close: define the scope and cutoff

• Record the property, accounting period, report generation time, and time zone.
• Agree how the hotel treats in-house stays, departures spanning the cutoff, and subsequent adjustments under its accounting policy.
• Export the relevant PMS ledger and stay reports, billing-status records, remittance detail, processor settlements where applicable, and bank activity.
• Carry forward last month's signed closing balance and unresolved-item schedule.
• Assign a preparer, an independent reviewer where feasible, and a target close date.

Do not force every source to use the same date field. A stay date, submission date, settlement date, and bank posting date represent different events. Preserve those fields so the reviewer can distinguish a genuine omission from a timing difference. Keep dated source copies in your approved restricted-access storage.

Check 1: prove the stay population is complete

Compare the period's CLC stay activity to the accounts receivable or clearing ledger. Include relevant departures, ongoing stays under your cutoff policy, cancellations with posted entries, credits, and transfers. Investigate stays found in one source but not the other.

Use stable references and property identifiers when combining reports. For split folios or group stays, document how the component records map to the billing entry. Counting rows alone can overstate activity if a single stay produces several lines. Keep a list of excluded records with the reason for each exclusion so another person can reproduce the population.

Check 2: separate submitted billing from cash received

Corpay's hotel partner guidance describes online billing-status checks and Web CheckINN electronic submission. Use the appropriate hotel billing record, not a traveler's invoice, to establish what your property submitted. For stays paid by card under specific reservation instructions, also reconcile the processor's settlement record.

• Match each hotel billing entry to the correct stay or documented group of stays.
• Identify unsubmitted, pending, adjusted, and unmatched entries without treating every open item as a card decline.
• Allocate grouped remittances or settlements to individual ledger entries once.
• Tie allocated receipts to bank deposits and explain differences, such as documented fees or settlement timing.
• Reconcile refunds and reversals separately so they do not look like new unpaid stays.

A status showing processing is not a guaranteed bank receipt date. Verify actual receipts and the timing applicable to your property. Do not invent a write-off or payment deadline from the number of days an item has been open.

Check 3: build the closing-balance bridge

For the scoped receivable ledger, show opening balance plus new posted charges, less applied receipts and credits, plus or minus approved adjustments, equals closing balance. Tie that result to the ledger control account. If your system uses a clearing account or a different sign convention, have the controller adapt the bridge and document the mapping.

Illustrative arithmetic only: an opening balance of $1,000 plus $4,000 in charges, less $3,500 in applied receipts and $100 in approved credits, leaves $1,400. That is not a recovery estimate. Each part of the $1,400 still needs supporting detail and a status.

Avoid double counting a receipt as both a payment and an adjustment. Never create an unexplained balancing entry merely to finish the close. Corrections should retain the original reference, approval, and reason.

Check 4: review and carry forward exceptions

• Tie the unresolved-item schedule to the relevant remaining ledger balance; separately identify timing items and unmatched cash.
• Give each item an amount, category, owner, evidence reference, next action, and review date.
• Confirm applicable contractual deadlines from current instructions rather than using a generic aging rule.
• Review subsequent receipts to explain cutoff differences, applying your accounting policy consistently.
• Have the reviewer record approval, open questions, and any authorized journal entries.
• Carry unresolved items forward with their original history rather than resetting their age.

For item-level investigation, follow the unpaid CLC invoice reconciliation guide. The purpose of month-end review is to control the full balance, not to repeat every transaction investigation from scratch.

Keep the close package useful and safe

Save the source-report index, balance bridge, allocation schedule, exception register, and sign-off together with restricted access. Follow your organization's retention policy and applicable requirements; this guide does not prescribe a universal retention period. Use the billing review documentation checklist when handing work to another reviewer.

If unexplained balances keep rolling forward, request a free CLC billing audit. The inquiry form is for a general description, not financial evidence. Do not include card data, guest information, passwords, or unredacted reports; arrange an approved secure transfer separately.

Sources and scope

Source reviewed September 29, 2026: Corpay Lodging hotel partner guidance, for electronic billing and online status checks. The cutoff, balance bridge, and review checklist are editorial accounting-workflow recommendations, not Corpay-mandated procedures. Your controller should adapt them to the property's systems and policies.