fiscal Year
A company's fiscal year is the period of 12 months over which the company calculates its annual (or "yearly") financial statements. Founders can generally establish the company's fiscal year as part of forming the company. They can also change it later. Most companies choose their fiscal year to be the same as the calendar year. This would imply that annual financials run from January 1st to December 31st. However, some companies for a variety of reasons including eliminating certain seasonality effects or industry standards choose to close their books on dates different than December 31st.