The quarter-end close is the set of accounting procedures performed at the end of each fiscal quarter to bring the books to a final position for that period. It includes everything in a month-end close, such as posting accruals, reconciling bank and balance sheet accounts and closing the subledgers, and adds work needed for external reporting.
The additional steps typically include reviewing estimates such as bad debt and inventory provisions, testing assets for impairment where there are indications, calculating the tax provision, eliminating intercompany balances, and consolidating group entities. Listed companies then prepare interim financial statements and disclosures, which in the United States are filed quarterly and reviewed, though not fully audited, by the external auditor. Banks and insurers also produce regulatory returns from the closed ledgers. It is a stage in financial close management, between the monthly cycle and the year-end close, and ends with the general ledger close.