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Financial Settings - Shorten financial year

Ability to shorten a financial year end on Xero without messing up reporting.
E.g. when a company's financial year end is shortened from 30 June to 31 December so there is a 6 month transition period needed.

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Felicity Clarke shared this idea  ·   ·  Report…  ·  Admin →
delivered  ·  AdminKelly Munro (Community Manager, Xero) responded  · 

Sorry we've not updated on this idea sooner.  

We've now added the ability for you to create a short transition period (between 1 - 12 months long) when changing the Financial Year End date within your organisations Financial Settings.  

To confirm the work in this space - Aligning with the UK basis period reforms we've made a change to Financial settings in Xero, so you can add start and end dates to different periods. 

This change impacts multiple areas of Xero;   

  • Fixed assets will draw on this information, to prevent any loss of historic information when your year end changes. Everything will automatically be calculated for you based on the period start and end dates you set in Financial Settings.  
  • The same story will apply in Reporting. All historic reports will be protected. And you’ll have accurate comparison periods even across varied financial years.  
  • In Xero Tax, you’ll be able to enter transitional profit, and track this across five years.
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  • Kelsey Ryan commented  ·   ·  Report

    I am having the same issue, I need create a set of accounts for 9 months but Xero does not permit me to create a transition period for shorter than 12 months.

    This function should be updated as I imagine many companies will be in the same position.

    Please can this update be done as soon as possible...

  • Redmond Tebbot commented  ·   ·  Report

    This is so painfully obvious I can't believe Xero didn't implement when they did the basis reform long period :(

  • Alexandra Mazniak commented  ·   ·  Report

    I have the same problem with a company that has changed the financial year and only has a 6 month year to report

  • Karen Hosty commented  ·   ·  Report

    perhaps we could urge our colleagues to vote for this idea so that the product development team will take note.

  • Jane Moore commented  ·   ·  Report

    Disappointed that your change in basis periods guidance has not considered this adequately. With the change in tax basis periods we are moving year end from 30th April to 31st March. We already have final signed accounts for the last year to 30th April 2023 so it is essential to be able to use a short transition period. Please can this be added as a priority

  • Angela Monti commented  ·   ·  Report

    This is really important to me as not sure how to change to a shorter reporting period and link to tax filer.

  • John Bland commented  ·   ·  Report

    We pay for software to help make changes as sooth as possible. With the changes in basis periods, the ability to change year ends to 5 April for sole traders and partnerships is no longer something that would be nice to have. It is a necessity that we will need in the next month!

  • Tracey Denton commented  ·   ·  Report

    Absolutely must be able to do this without messing up things. It's inevitable now more than ever that year ends are going to be changing.