How to shorten the financial year

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How it works

In Sage 50 Accounts, the financial year is always 12 months. If you need to shorten it, move the start date back to reflect the new end date.

Year	23	23	23	23	23	23	23	23	23	23	23	23	24	24	24
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Jan	Feb	Mar
Current				Start											End
New	Start *											End

Watch the video

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How the balances are recalculated

When you use the Financial Year option to change the start date of your financial year the following changes occur:

• The system rebuilds monthly nominal code balances based on transactions in your audit trail
• The system recalculates year-to-date turnover figures for your customers and suppliers based on transactions in your audit trail
• The system recalculates monthly sales balances on product records based on product transactions

Running the Financial Year Change option removes all prior year and budget values from the nominal codes. You can't produce Prior Year or Budget reports without this information. However, you can retain this information for standard budgeting and prior year values. To do this:

1. Export your nominal ledger using the Nominal Record CSV (Extended) report. 
2. Adjust to allow for the shift in months.
3. Import the amended data.

 TIP: Instead of manually adjusting the report, you can archive your company data and view the report there. 

If you want the new financial year to start in January 2024, set the financial year to January 2023.

For example, if the new shortened financial year starts in January 2024, this means running the standard year-end reports up to the end of December 2023.

• Trial balance
• Profit and loss
• Balance sheet
• Aged debtors
• Aged creditors

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Change the financial year start date

When you change the financial year start date, set it to the previous year.

For example, if you want the new financial year to start in January 2021, set the financial year to January 2020.

1. Click Settings, click Financial Year then click Change.
2. Click Yes to the prompt regarding backups and check data.
3. Click Yes to the prompt regarding nominal historical data.
4. Set the required financial year start month and year. For example, if you want the new financial year to start in January 2021, set the financial year to January 2020.
5. Click OK, click Yes, click OK then click OK again.

NOTE: Run financial reports for the shortened financial year period. Avoid running reports for the whole financial year, as the P&L figures won't accurately reflect the current state.

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Run the Year End

This clears the profit and loss figures up to and including the year-end date and advances the financial year start date to the required date.

1. Back up your data.
2. Click Tools, click Period End then click Year End and click Run Year End.

 TIP: For a complete guide to running the year-end, see how to complete a financial year end.