Year-end is no longer the bottleneck. The bottleneck is the two weeks before fieldwork: assembling lead schedules, tying out balances, chasing supporting documentation. Done well, that work is a function of the close, not a separate task.
The trick
Generate the lead schedules off the same trial balance the close runs against. Tag every reconciling item with its supporting document at the moment it is recorded. By the time fieldwork starts, the binder builds itself.
