# Why is July 1st the start of the financial year?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-july-1st-the-start-of-the-financial-year/604031
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [November 25, 2011, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-july-1st-the-start-of-the-financial-year/604031 "2011-11-25T10:49:18Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@TATG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TATG)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2011, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-july-1st-the-start-of-the-financial-year/604031/1 "2011-11-25T10:49:18Z")
An Australian financial year starts on July 1st, and, luckily, ends on June 30th (of the following year). I am wondering both how and why this came about.
My guess is that it is related to the fact that Senate terms start/end at the same time (and Senate terms are mandated by the constitution).
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### Author:  [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2011, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-july-1st-the-start-of-the-financial-year/604031/2 "2011-11-25T10:57:19Z")
> [@TATG](#):
>
> An Australian financial year starts on July 1st, and, luckily, ends on June 30th (of the following year). I am wondering both how and why this came about.
>
> My guess is that it is related to the fact that Senate terms start/end at the same time (and Senate terms are mandated by the constitution).
Are you sure that the AUS Fiscal year is also determined by law or is it simply custom?
Is it custom for many companies or just a few?
[Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiscal_year#Australia) says
> [@](#):
>
> The Australian government’s financial year begins on July 1 and concludes on June 30 of the following year. This applies for personal income tax and the federal budget, and most companies are required to use it as their own. The year ending on the 30th June, 2011 is referred to as “financial year 2010-11” or sometimes just “financial year 2011”.
which leaves unclear what determines “most” companies who are required to follow - is it size of company measured by income? By employees?
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### Author:  [@TATG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TATG)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2011, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-july-1st-the-start-of-the-financial-year/604031/3 "2011-11-25T11:08:20Z")
> [@constanze](#):
>
> Are you sure that the AUS Fiscal year is also determined by law or is it simply custom?
>
> Is it custom for many companies or just a few?
I had in mind the tax laws and the Government budget, when I said financial year. I thought that “financial year” in other contexts was (in some sense) informal, and determined by the organisation involved, and that it did differ in some cases. For example, I thought some Universities go by the calendar year. But I am not sure about this.
Regardless, let me clarify my question; I meant the sense of “financial year” that refers to the Australian Federal Government’s financial year.
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### Author:  [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2011, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-july-1st-the-start-of-the-financial-year/604031/4 "2011-11-25T11:10:45Z")
Well, in the UK fiscal year starts on April 1st\* / 6th (depending on definition) and there is a historical reason for it. It’s basically the Julian new year’s day (25th March) + 11 days when the calendar switched to Gregorian. I think.
I would speculate that Australia’s fiscal year would have been modelled on britain’s and then shifted for local reasons (as opposed to, say, starting out as 1 Jan to 31 Dec)
- yes, april fool’s day. So on April 1st, amongst all the hoaxes you also get (genuine) government initiatives being launched, banks changing policies etc.
Lots of times I’m sure people have ignored very important notices due to incredulity…
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### Author:  [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2011, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-july-1st-the-start-of-the-financial-year/604031/5 "2011-11-25T11:30:28Z")
In Ireland they (sensibly IMO) changed the tax year from April 1 to January 1. Much tidier. The downside is that accountancy staff are severely overworked in the days leading up to Christmas.