Definition: Fiscal Year is a term that is used to differentiate a budget or financial year from the calendar year. It is commonly abbreviated as FY.
The U.S. Government's Fiscal Year runs from October 1 of the prior year through September 30 of the next year. For example:
- FY 2007 runs from October 2006 through September 2007.
- FY 2008 is from October 2007 through September 2008.
- FY 2009 is from October 2008 through September 2009.
This allows the new Congress (and anyone else newly elected) to participate in January, when they take office, to prepare the budget for the next year.
Many corporations also use a Fiscal Year, which generally runs from July through June of the following year.
Examples: In January of 2008, the Congressional Budget Office began preparing their budget estimates for FY 2009.
