My subcontractors' accounts never close

Long after the job finished, the subcontract ledger is still alive: final accounts unagreed, variations unresolved, retentions sitting unreleased because nobody asked for the paperwork that lets them move. Every open account is an unquantified liability, a number that can still surprise you, and while the chain below stays unsettled, your own final account is being agreed on top of costs that are not actually known.

Closing the chain is a process, not a personality. Each account gets assessed on the records, its variations agreed or determined the way the subcontract says, its retention dealt with when the triggers fall, and the closure put in writing, worked in order of exposure so the accounts that could hurt most are made certain first.