Financial year closing

This one is dedicated to all my friends who slog away in the last week of March because some accountants need to know what is (+) or (–) in a report called the P&L statement. The joke here is - they’ve probably already decided how it will read beforehand. We are all just doing the grunt back-work to make sure their ‘predictions’ look correct.

For the less familiar and the more lucky souls, there are a lot of interesting activities that happen with this financial or fiscal year ‘closing’.
Firstly, audits galore - of stocks, of claims, of expenses, etc etc. It’s like a field day for auditors and that one time in the year when they call all the shots. You can put forth your logics and all, but there always a ready response “Huh? What are you saying? Close to karna hai na! Why are you bringing this up at this eleventh hour?” Because my dear friend, this is the only time I can get your kind attention.
Secondly, this is when the finance guys are at their efficient best, and everyone else at their wits end. The two does not make a fruitful combination for work to happen.

I remember my colleagues in a previous job assignment, R and T, who despised this time of the year. We dreaded the three words “Sanctioned vs. Released vs. Spent”. Budgets under these three heads never seemed to match! We had the most elaborate SAP reports and Excel trackers (greater than 5 colours used per worksheet and tons of cross-linked formulae) but we were still cursing when we sat down to close the fiscal year.

By the way, in India, financial years are from 1st April to 31st March of every year, but it’s not the same across the world. Here are some examples.
· US : October 1st to September 30th
· Australia : July 1st to June 30th
· UAE : Jan 1st to Dec 31st
Now, I don’t think the job market is that good nowadays or too many companies would want my kind of talent, but a good way to avoid financial year closings will be this: Work in Dubai from Jan to March, in India from April to June, in Australia from July to September and finish up in US from October to December. That way, you experience the best part of the fiscal year where you get to make grand plans but are in no pressure to implement them yet (“C’mon boss, the year’s just begun, the next 3 quarters will be great, I tell you”).

The other more personal twist with fiscal year closing, that sales managers particularly experience, is that it is usually the end of the appraisal year also. This means you will literally DIE to deliver that one extra shipment, coax customers to buy that one last goods carton, and find someone, someone who hasn’t yet purchased your insurance policy or credit card. It’s akin to the final desperate stretch the 100 metre athlete makes before the finish line. Of course, his agony lasted 10 seconds, yours 365 days.

Think about it like this...As the clock ticks over from 31st March to the next day, it greets you saying “April Fool! Gotcha again this year! ”... Yeah, yeah, I know. Don’t rub it in. I fall for the same thing every single year.

P.S.: I have a lot of respect for Finance professionals. Without them, us marketing guys will probably have one fantastic never-ending party and completely waste ourselves. So, thanks guys, for keeping us grounded within the columns of your balance sheets :)