First and foremost it’s important to understand the definition of a period. A reporting or an accounting period is not just a year, it’s not just a quarter, but usually the shortest period measured is a month.  

So just with that your procedures for closing a period got more importance and relevance I would say. Closing a period is not just something you do quickly and without giving much thought to it. Yes, it can be a fairly automatic process and you may not be thinking too much about the process itself, however it is essential that you consider all relevant details and pieces of information available to you. For an example when closing a period you ought to consider possible expenses that you haven’t accounted for just yet since you haven’t received an invoice for them. Or for instance whether you’ve accounted for all taxes and exemptions for this period.

Note here as well that procedures can differ and vary from period to a period, i.e. your closing procedures for the whole year may be more generic whereas each month you’d have a list of routines you carry through. For closing the whole year you’d consider subsequent events in more detail for an example as this information is to be disclosed within the Annual Report itself.

So as you can see, it is important to define the period your closing your accounts for.