Let’s Get Fiscal, Fiscal (Years in Salesforce)

1. Who is in this story?
   1. Christopher
   2. Alexis
   3. Sailor
   4. Scout
   5. Tito
2. What is a fiscal year?
3. Where do you find Fiscal Year?
4. When are fiscal years used?
   1. Standard Fiscal Years
   2. Custom Fiscal Years
   3. Considerations
5. Why use fiscal years?
   1. Standard Fiscal Years
   2. Custom Fiscal Years
6. How do you use Fiscal Years?
   1. Use Case
   2. Procedure
7. Conclusion

Who is in this story?

If you don’t know, I’m building a Salesforce org for my baby, crafting an outrageous storyline to help with recall during my admin exam. We are a pillow fight club, but SHHHHHH. No clandestine operation is complete without a legitimate front, so this is the manifestation of that.

If you’ve been here before, not sure why the fuck you came back but I sure appreciate you.

Here are our recurring characters.

Christopher

My name is Christopher, aka Dad. I’m 32. My favorite color is pink. I’m one of two characters in today’s story.

Alexis

My girlfriend is Alexis, aka Mom. She’s 33. Her favorite colors are pink and black.

Sailor

My surrogate daughter is Sailor, aka Sailor. She’s 8. Her favorite color is teal.

Scout

My daughter is Scout, aka Little Christopher With The Same Haircut (not anymore though). She’s 1. She has yet to see a color that she does not like. She is the other character in today’s story.

Tito

Tito is a chihuahua whose entire being contains no color. He’s like if Eeyore was a cockroach who loved to shit all over the house. That’s why we love him.

What is a fiscal year?

A year based around accounting and budgeting purposes, primarily in financial reporting.

Where do you find Fiscal Year?

When are fiscal years used?

In Salesforce, fiscal years are used in reporting, forecasting, and quotas.

Standard Fiscal Years

If using a standard calendar but you don’t want the year to start in January.

You can set the start month and whether the fiscal year is based on the end month or the start month.

• Starting Month – if start month is March and the year starts in 2024, the fiscal year would be 2024
• Ending Month – if start month is March and year ends in 2025, the fiscal year would be 2025.

Custom Fiscal Years

If using nonstandard calendars or if reporting periods aren’t always the same. There are different templates or you can customize your own fiscal year by itself.

If customizing your own year, you’ll need to fill out the following

• Start date – day 1 of your desired year
• Year name – what naming convention are you going to use?
• Description – make it make sense to everyone!
• Week Start Day – what day of the week do you want it to start on?
• Reset Fiscal Year Structure – you are able to reset custom fiscal year structures, although you can never go custom fiscal year to standard.

Considerations

Changing fiscal start month will lose quota/adjustment information if using forecasting in your org.

You cannot undo custom fiscal years to standard, to revert, create a 12 month standard custom fiscal year and use that.

Why use fiscal years?

Standard Fiscal Years

If you want to choose either the start month or the end month of a fiscal year for accounting purposes

Custom Fiscal Years

• If you want to choose either the start month or the end month of a fiscal year for accounting purposes and your company does not follow traditional calendar
• If your company is in a country that doesn’t use the Gregorian calendar.
• If you want to change the reporting periods for your company
• If you use trimesters instead of quarters.

How do you use Fiscal Years?

Use Case

Scout Magnolia was born on May 25. As there is no such thing as a free lunch in this world (although I was literally eligible for them my entire life), and I because suck at budgeting, I plan to invoice her when she turns 18 for everything that she has cost Mom and I over the years.

Make no mistake, Alexis is the one holding this fucking family together, but I’m building one hell of a story here so let me cook.

The best thing to use here will be a standard fiscal year starting June 1. We don’t want to burden her with hospital bills, so we discounted the first week of her life. You feel me?

Some would describe this particular parenting tactic as fascist, and you know what? They’re not wrong in this single instance.

Procedure

Conclusion

• You can not use a fiscal year at all, use a standard one, use a custom one with a template, or heavily customize your own. Find what works best with your business requirements.
• I created the email alias fuck@christophersauer.com for anybody out there who wants to cyberbully me. Feel free to give me your best shot. I’ll fucking roast your ass.

Thanks for reading!