Hi friends,

I know last Fiscal Year was quite tough for most of us. I only know little bit about the share market and therefore I am not going to carry out any post mortem for this economic crisis. Instead I want to discuss the basics of Fiscal Year.

Fiscal Year is a 12-month period over which a company budgets its spending. The fiscal year is the established period of time when an organization’s annual financial records commence and conclude. This period may be a calendar year but can be any 12-month period. A fiscal year accounting period should coincide with the operating cycle of the organization.

The fiscal year is referred to by the date in which it ends. For example, if a company's fiscal year ends October 31, 2006, then everything between November 1, 2008 and October 31, 2009 would be referred to as FY 2009. Not using the actual calendar year gives many companies an advantage, allowing them to close their books at a time which is most convenient for them. Thus Fiscal years vary between organizations, businesses and countries.

One such example is that many universities have a fiscal year which ends during the summer, both to align the fiscal year with the school year, and because the school is normally less busy during the summer months.

Fiscal years are typically numbered using a calendar year and quarter thereof. A fiscal quarter is 3 months (1/4 of a year). The tax year for a business is governed by the fiscal year it chooses.

Period of Fiscal Year as applied for given country:

• India : April 1 to March 31
• US : October 1 to September 30
• UK : April 1 to March 31 (Government and Corporate Tax)
• Canada : April 1 to March 31
• Hong Kong : April 1 to March 31
• Japan : April 1 to March 31 (Government and Corporate Tax)
• New Zealand : July 1 to June 30 (Government)
• Australia : July 1 to June 30
• Ireland : January 1 to December 31