Here are some important factors worth being aware of.
Financial year and calendar year are not the same
A calendar year runs from January to December. A non-calendar financial year can, for example, run from April 1 to March 31.
This means that the business deals with two different time periods. The accounts follow the business's financial year, while, among other things, the VAT periods still follow the calendar year.
It is therefore important to be mindful of which period you are looking at when working with the accounting figures.
Choose the right period when reporting
A report may show correct figures, but still give a misleading picture if you select the wrong period.
Imagine a business with a financial year from April to March. If you select the calendar year 2025 in the trial balance, the income statement accounts may cover the period from April 1, 2024, to December 31, 2025. That corresponds to 21 months – not one financial year.
The figures are calculated correctly, but cannot be directly compared with an ordinary annual financial statement.
When reconciling, reporting, or comparing entire financial years, you must therefore make sure to select the financial year rather than the calendar year.
Be careful about changing the start month
The start month for the financial year should be correct from the beginning. If you change it after bookkeeping has begun, it affects how the accounting figures are distributed across the years – including for prior periods.
The same applies to budgets. If the start month is changed from January to April, the budget retains the figures, but the months shift positions. What was previously under January moves to April.
Therefore, check both reports and budgets if the financial year is changed.
How Catacloud handles non-calendar financial years
Catacloud supports non-calendar financial years. Once the start month is set up, the financial years appear as distinct periods in the reports' period selector.
