What is "Hard close" in accounts?

Hard close is normally something like a mock closing and usually done just before year end in large MNCs. say if their accounting year ends in Dec, hard close is done in Nov.

It will be like accruing all the provisions, true ups, starting the collection of data for impairments, fair value assessments. Starting the audit for the last quarter and the year so that any observations or differences may be corrected before year end and faster finalisation of numbers for press release can be done,

Thank you very much sir for your answer.

Request you to plese let me know:

1) Is there something called " Soft close" in accounting? If yes, what does it mean?

2) If the books are HARD CLOSED say in Nov 10 and the books are fianlized in say Feb 11  should one say after closing "  FINALLY CLOSED" because the books were hard closed earlier.

3)What are "true ups" in accounting?

Thanks