A business' fiscal year contains accounting information relating to the company's activity on a 12-month period. It is used to record each transaction that took place during that period. It also serves as a basis for drawing up the annual accounts of the business.

Maintaining and closing its accounting year is an obligation for all businesses. Each business must choose a closing date that best suits its business.

For more information on choosing the closing date for an accounting year, see the dedicated card on our website.

The closing date of the accounting year of a business shall be an item of information mentioned in its statutes.

Thus, in order to modify it, it is necessary to hold a extraordinary general meeting (AGE) shareholders of the company. This EFA must take place before the end date of the current fiscal year. The majority and quorum requirements for the decision to change the date of the accounting year vary according to the type of business. At the end of this AGE, a report shall be drawn up.

To learn more about the rules for decision making, you can consult our dedicated sheets according to the business: SA, SARL, LOCK, SCI.

Once the decision has been made, the amendment must be declared,within one month of the decision, on the company formalities window:

Company Formalities Window

Changes in the closing date of the accounting year may affect the preparation of accounting documents and the mandates of the directors or members of the supervisory board (where any).

The duration of the exercise should initially be 12 months. On the other hand, it is tolerated that the exercise is longer or shorter in case of modification.

When the fiscal year lasts more than 12 months, the business is constrained to draw up 2 inventories : one of 12 months and a second that goes up to the new closing date of the accounting year.