The rhyme “Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November” was written to help children learn about the calendar. However, calendar inconsistencies can be annoying for finance experts. It can be difficult to compare retail sales between months with various Saturdays or to compare performance in a 28-day month to a 31-day month. Some business professionals have altered the calendar to better meet the needs of accountants, making calculations easier and more precise.
To compensate for the inconsistencies in the typical 12-month year, various accounting calendars have been established. The most prevalent variance is the 4-4-5 accounting calendar, which consists of four weeks followed by another four weeks and one of five weeks. This enables comparisons of 13-week quarters and periods from different years. However, a 53-week accounting year is still required every five or six years to avoid falling too far behind the “real” calendar.
The 4-5-4 calendar, sometimes known as the 5-4-4 calendar, modifies the 4-4-5 calendar by putting the longest month in the middle or beginning of the quarter. Some businesses choose to end their fiscal year on the same day of the week, usually on a Saturday or Sunday. The year can be divided into equal 28-day months, but only 13 must exist. Under this arrangement, the end of the fiscal year advances by one day each year, and a 52-week year must be followed by one of 53 weeks at some time.
Businesses must record and pay taxes on an annual basis, but quantifying data between months or quarters can be difficult in some industries. Comparing specific days or irregular periods is significant in sectors such as theatre. To measure periods more flexibly, a flexible approach is required, allowing for comparisons between productions and their success based on the number of days they occupied the calendar.
Although software can be useful in managing irregular accounting periods, it is critical to understand and adapt to the intricacies of these periods. Basic financial systems, which are based on dates, struggle to accept any deviation from the traditional calendar. Even with advanced tools, understanding this complexity can feel like navigating a computer science lecture. User-friendly software works in terms of periods rather than dates, allowing for set lengths. Multi-company consolidation software can manage several calendars and generate required reports and dashboards. It can handle multi-company consolidation and streamline the calendar for easy management. Although the calendar cannot be simplified, software can, making it a more efficient tool for handling organisational data.
Contact us for a demonstration to learn how ConiaSoft manages varied accounting periods and other unique requirements. You can also take a quick tour of the software online.
