October 25, 2016 
A calendar year runs from January 1 to December 31 each year. Companies are allowed to select a fiscal year that is different from the calendar year, which means not all companies’ financial statements are as of December 31.
Here is a list of a variety of companies and their fiscal years:
- Amazon.com: Fiscal year end is December 31 (same as calendar year)
- Target: Fiscal year ends on the Saturday nearest January 31
- Lowe’s: Fiscal year ends on the Friday nearest the end of January
- Apple: Fiscal year is the 52 or 53-week period that ends on the last Saturday of September
- Walt Disney: Fiscal year ends on the Saturday closest to September 30 and consists of fifty-two weeks with the exception that approximately every six years, there is a fifty-three week year
- Microsoft: Fiscal year end is June 30
- Hewlett-Packard: Fiscal year ends on October 31
- Kent State University: Fiscal year end is June 30
About 60% of the largest companies use a calendar year end.[1]
Questions
- For each of the companies listed, give at least one reason it might have chosen the fiscal year end that it has. Use your imagination.
- What is the fiscal year end of your educational institution?
- Is a company allowed to change its fiscal year end at will? Why or why not?
[1] Harrison, Horngren, Thomas & Tietz, Financial Accounting, 11th edition, Pearson Education, 2016.
Instructor Resources
These resources are provided to give the instructor flexibility for use of Accounting in the Headlines articles in the classroom. The blog posting itself can be assigned via a link to this site OR by distributing the student handout below. Alternatively, the PowerPoint file below contains a bullet point overview of the article and the discussion questions.
- Student handout (pdf) (word) (contains entire blog posting + discussion questions)
- PowerPoint file (brief article overview + discussion questions)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
Accounting in the Headlines 
The link on the article for the powerpoint talks about the FIFO, LIFO, Weighted average, not the difference in fiscal year and calendar year
On Tue, Oct 25, 2016 at 10:23 AM, Accounting in the Headlines wrote:
> Dr. Wendy Tietz, CPA, CMA, CGMA posted: “A calendar year runs from January > 1 to December 31 each year. Companies are allowed to select a fiscal year > that is different from the calendar year, which means not all companies’ > financial statements are as of December 31. Here is a list of a variet” >
I just replaced it with the correct file – thanks for the heads up. Have a nice day!
I was wondering if you had the answer key to the questions above? I am trying to check my work.
Hello. I do not provide the solutions, since some professors do use the blog posts as graded assignments and I have no way to control who obtains the solutions. I would urge you to consult your professor. Have a nice day.
I really appreciate you not providing answer keys. I’ve adapted some of your posts for my accounting classes at Lone Star College in Houston, TX.
Thank you! You are not alone:-)
Hi, Please what is the fiscal year for Target?
Hello! The best way to find the fiscal year for any company is to find its Form 10-k. You will see the fiscal year at the top of its financial statements. In addition, the first paragraph of the notes to the financial statements will typically contain a description of the company’s fiscal year end.
Thank You….that was helpful.
What is the accounting equation?