Accounting period
The accounting period is the time period for which a company or organization reports financial performance.
Several of the primary financial accounting reports are published shortly after the end of the accounting period, summarizing activity from the start to the end of th period. For companies in private industry, these reports include the income statement, the statement of changes in financial position, and the statement of retained earnings (for government organizations, the report comparable to an income statement may be called a statement of operations, and for some non profit organizations it is called the statement of activities). The accounting period in view is normally written immediately under the statement title, with a phrase such as...
". . . for the Year Ended 30 September 2011"
By contrast, the balance sheet (or statement of financial position), reports on the status of asset, liability, and equity accounts at one point in time, the end of the accounting period. The balance sheet title will be followed with phrase such as:
". . . at 30 September 2011.
For companies in private industry, the end of accounting period reports summarize activity for the start to the end of the period income statement, statement of changes in financial position, and statement of returned earnings.
The accounting period is central to application of the matching-concept in accounting (reporting revenues earned and the costs and expenses that brought them in the same period), and to accrual accounting (the practice of reporting reveneus when earned and expenses when the obligation is incurred, rather than reporting them when cash actually flows).
Publically held companies (those that sell shares of stock to the public) are required to publish reports annually, for an accounting period that coincides with their fiscal year. In most countries, this is also the period (the year) for which tax liabilities are calculated, summarized, and paid.
Many companies also publish financial reports for quarterly accounting periods (three-month periods), for the benefit of shareholders, potential investors, and their own management.
Note that the accounting period fiscal year need not coincide with the calendar year. When a financial statement refers to "FY 2011," for instance, the reference simply refers to the fiscal year ending sometime in calendar 2011. The US government fiscal year ends 30 September 30, the UK government fiscal year ends 31 March, while the Australian government ends its fiscal year on 30 June. Among companies in private industry, Cisco Systems ends its fiscal year 31 July, Siemens ends the fiscal year on 30 September, and Hewlett-Packard's fiscal year ends 31 October.
Nevertheless, a majority of companies worldwide (e.g. Ericsson, Virgin Media, and IBM) end their fiscal year accounting periods on 31 December.
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