why use a fiscal year instead of a calendar year 
for companies that rely on seasonal activity using a fiscal year may be beneficial this is because it allows revenues expenses and plans to align better for instance it is common for retail companies to end their fiscal year on jan 31 after the holiday season has ended this ends the year on a high note gives the company more starting capital to work with and keeps it from trying to prepare financial reports during its busiest sales period the bottom linea fiscal year is a one year period used by some businesses governments and nonprofits that ends on a date other than dec 31 reasons vary for why some entities might want a fiscal year different than the calendar year in certain circumstances a fiscal year might end on a specified day such as the last saturday of a particular month as opposed to the last day of a month in these cases it is possible for a fiscal year to sometimes be 53 weeks long entities that use a fiscal year file their taxes on the 15th day of the fourth month following the conclusion of their fiscal year 