Setting up a financial year

A financial year is the period your accounts cover. You need one to produce your year-end accounts and to set a budget, and it is worth setting up before you get there rather than at the AGM.

When does my financial year run?

Whenever your constitution says. Many PTAs follow the academic year, 1 September to 31 August, but yours can be any twelve months. If you are not sure, check your constitution or your last set of accounts. A guessed year is worse than none, because the figures will not line up with what was reported last time.

How do I add one?

1. Go to Finances > Year End
2. Open the Manage menu and choose Add Financial Year
3. Give it a Name, for example "2026/27"
4. Enter the Starts and Ends dates
5. Save

Once you have one year, the next is suggested for you with the following dates already filled in.

Do I need one before I can record transactions?

Not for transactions you type in yourself. But your Stripe payouts are only posted automatically once a financial year exists, and only from the start date of your earliest year, so until then your takings will not appear. You also cannot produce a receipts and payments account, close a year or set a budget until you have one.

Can I set up past years?

Yes. If you are bringing earlier records across, add the earlier years too, so this year's accounts have a "last year" column to compare against.

Related reading

• What does closing a financial year do?
• Entering your assets and liabilities at the year end