Fiscal year and accounting basis.
Two settings shape everything your books say: the month your fiscal year starts, and whether revenue counts when it is earned or when the money arrives. Changing them later does not rewrite entries already in the books, and the screen tells you so before you save.
When your fiscal year starts, and whether you record revenue when it is earned or when the money moves. Periods, entries and every statement follow from those.
The screen
Set your fiscal year and your accounting method.
Try it below. Change the start month and the preview shows the fiscal year you would get before you save. Switch the method and the note underneath explains what changes.
Core parameters that drive the accounting engine. Fiscal periods, journal entries and reports all derive from these two values.
Changing these settings after journal entries have been posted does not re-stamp existing entries. Confirm before running Period Close for the first time.
Month that begins period 1 of each fiscal year. Common non-calendar starts: April (India), July (Australia), October (US Federal).
Preview: January to DecemberThe calendar year
Accrual records revenue and expenses when earned or incurred. Cash records them when money actually moves.
Recommended for most businesses. Required for GAAP and IFRS compliance.
Once an entry is in the books, changing these settings will not move it.
Why they matter
Four things these two settings decide.
They look small, but everything your books report follows from them.
Start your year in April and period 1 is April, with Q1 ending in June. Every close, every quarterly comparison and every year-to-date figure follows from that.
Every entry is filed in a period the moment it posts. That is what a closed period locks, and it stays put even if you change these settings later.
On accrual, an invoice sent in July is July revenue whether or not it has been paid. On cash, it counts in the month the money arrives. The same invoices can tell two different stories.
GAAP and IFRS require accrual accounting. Cash is simpler and shows the money that actually moved, but it will not pass an audit.
Start your year in any month.
April for India, July for Australia, October for US federal. Pick the month your filings already use and every report follows it.
- Start the fiscal year in any month, not only January
- Preview the full year, so April shows as April to March, before you save
- Quarters follow your fiscal year, not the calendar
- Set it once for the company and every report uses it
- Match the year your filings already use
Choose accrual or cash accounting.
Accrual records revenue when it is earned and is what GAAP and IFRS require. Cash records the money that actually moved.
- Record revenue when it is earned, or when the payment arrives
- See your profit and loss on the basis you actually report on
- One method for every statement, so figures always compare
- Accrual is the method an audit will expect
- Set it once, before the first entry is posted
Get it right first
Decide these two before your first close.
Almost everything else in Finance can be changed later: accounts can be added, mappings edited, rates updated. These two are different. Entries already in the books keep the period and method they were posted under, so settle both before you close your first period.
Access
Who can do what.
These settings are not day-to-day work. They are set once, by somebody who knows which year the company reports on, and then left alone.
See which fiscal year and method the company uses.
Nothing here. These settings are not day-to-day work.
Nothing here either. This is a company decision, not a department one.
Set both, before the first period is closed.
Admin is the highest role and is not constrained by the permission grid, so it is worth keeping to the smallest group that genuinely needs it.