Why does the American fiscal year begin at October 1?

Question

Why does the American fiscal year begin at October 1?Why is it not the same date as the beginnig of the school year, or the New Year at January 1?

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

Is that the federal government's fiscal year? Fiscal years usually start/end at relatively idle times in an entity's operations. I can think of no specific reason why the US government's ends September 30th-- perhaps Congress goes into session on October 1st?

(Sorry, I am on a rogue computer at the moment-- not at home with all my resources and bookmarks.)

Teleostomi · Answer

How're you doing, Mister Mic. Congress does too? I didn't know that.

at relatively idle times

Mister Mic, why is it not "time" but "times"?

Mister Micawber · Answer

I don't know about the US Congress's fiscal year, Teleo-- I'm just guessing (and I don't feel like wading through any turgid gummint websites to find out).

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way--in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only. (Charles Dickens)

Don't go changing, to try and please me
You never let me down before
Don't imagine you're too familiar
And I don't see you anymore
I wouldn't leave you in times of trouble
We never could have come this far
I took the good times, I'll take the bad times
I'll take you just the way you are (Billy Joel)

Time, 4c : conditions at present or at some specified period -- usually used in plural <times are hard> <move with the times>

Hena · Answer

Wow Mister Micawber! Where do you store those stuff ?

Could you also please tell me where you got that Dickens' quote from...

See you,

Hena

BarbaraPA · Answer

My understanding is that once upon a time, the governmenet was running out of money (as it does every year), so they said that instead of starting on January 1, the new year would start on Dec. 1 - so that the year that was currently taking place would end sooner, and they wouldn't have spent more than the amount of money they were allotted for that "year" (even if that year ended up being only only 11 months long). And that it happened twice more.

Or, it may have happened all at once - one year it was to end on Dec. 31 and then it was to end on Sept. 30. And somewhere along the line, someone said "Stop! Enough is enough! No more changing the year any more!" And so it has remained as Oct. 1 thorugh Sept 30 ever since.

This could be urban legend though...

Teleostomi · Answer

Mister Mic, thanks for explaining "the times" in detail!

Mister Micawber · Answer

Mister Micawber! Where do you store those stuff ?

There are many dusty cartons in the attic of an old man's mind, Hena. That is the opening passage of Dickens' Tale of Two Cities.

Hena · Answer

No wonder why I enjoy reading your posts this much. And thanks a lot for the info; I have just bought the book online .<img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/5.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/5.gif' alt='Emotion: wink'/>

Why does the American fiscal year begin at October 1?

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