Jeff Moden (12/26/2014)
Thanks, Scott. I was afraid it would be something like that. I can see those reasons for companies back when spreadsheets where 11x17 accounting papers that were resolved with calculators but I don't understand it anymore. It just doesn't make sense to me anymore especially when things like vacation, sick time, medical and other benefits and taxes (especially taxes) are usually done by calendar year even in companies with Fiscal Year offsets.
True, some of those are still done by calendar year, sometimes because the law requires it, and/or employees would be confused if their vacation (or "holiday" in Britain, etc.) ran from, say, Apr to Mar rather than year to year ;-).
Some companies also adjusted their fiscal years to match the U.S. govt's, which runs from Oct thru Sep, since they have big govt tie-in with their revenues. All sorts of reasons to go a different fiscal year.
But, yep, this accounting is extremely complex now. When I was a manager, I disliked budgeting the most. I really didn't understand it ... and didn't want to, I was still a technician at heart.
SQL DBA,SQL Server MVP(07, 08, 09) A socialist is someone who will give you the shirt off *someone else's* back.