Fiscal Year
A 12-month accounting period used by a company for financial reporting purposes, which may differ from the calendar year.
What is Fiscal Year?
A fiscal year (FY) is any 12-month period a company uses for accounting and tax reporting purposes. While many companies align their fiscal year with the calendar year (January 1 – December 31), others choose a fiscal year ending on a date that better reflects their business cycle — for example, retailers often end their fiscal year after the holiday season in January or February. The SEC requires public companies to file their annual 10-K report within 60–90 days of their fiscal year-end. Different fiscal year-ends among competitors can complicate comparisons, since results are measured over different calendar periods. When companies report quarterly earnings, the quarters are defined relative to the fiscal year, labeled Q1 through Q4.
Example
Apple's fiscal year ends on the last Saturday of September. FY2024 ended September 28, 2024 — meaning Apple's Q1 (October–December) captures the critical holiday selling season and is typically its largest revenue quarter, unlike calendar-year companies where Q4 spans the same period.
Source: Investopedia — Fiscal Year