What is the most popular month end date for UK limited companies?

Technically, people often refer to a company’s month end date / yearend date, financial year end as “Accounts Reference Date.” Any reference to month end or yearend date does mean a company’s account reference date or financial year end. Below is a bit more information on a company’s most popular month end date.

To accurately get this data, you would have to go to Companies House and download all UK companies and their yearend date. This will be a challenging and time-consuming task.

WestWon has an extensive client base and contact information on UK companies in general. As part of our standard “Know Your Customer” requirements, we keep a record of companies’ yearend date. The following analysis is taken from our data of UK limited, plc and limited liability companies.

What is the most popular month end for UK limited companies?

March, 24.48% of companies have a March yearend date followed closely by December with 24.34%.

What is the least popular yearend date?

November, 3.05% of companies have a November yearend date, followed by February with 3.18%.

UK company yearend dates by month

Month                 % of companies

January               3.86%

February              3.18%

March                 24.48%

April                     6.34%

May                     4.84%

June                    7.28%

July                      4.86%

August                 5.57%

September         7.49%

October              4.71%

November          3.05%

December          24.34%

Can you choose what yearend date to have for your audited accounts?

Yes, you can therefore set your own date.

Can you change a yearend date?

Yes, but there are restrictions on how often this can be done.

Can you extend a yearend date?

Yes, again, there are restrictions on how often this can be done.

What factors should I consider as a business owner when thinking about my yearend date?

Surprisingly, lots of business owners do not give this any thought. In simplistic ways, if they start up a business in April, they have an April or May yearend and never get around to changing it.

March is most popular as it ties in with the HMRC tax year. December is equally popular as companies link their trading and success to a calendar year.

Seasonal variations then account for the other main reason when a business owner will choose their accounts reference date. For companies that experience most of their sales in the summer months, they would choose September as a year end. This is so they start off their accounting year quietly then business grows as opposed to see business just decline on a month by month basis if you choose May or June.

You could decide to have your yearend at a time of the year when business is quiet so there are no major debtors or creditors to show in the accounts.

Often, we would have December as our yearend to match our calendar year targets and objectives, however, getting business in, deals paid out and invoices paid in December is harder work. On the flip side, we have our yearend as June and when people ask us how business was last year, we have to work out if they mean a calendar or financial year.

In summary, the key consideration is what does your business do. What variations – if any – in business do you experience every month? Do you want to be thinking about your yearend when you have broken up for Christmas? It all depends on how you decide to run your business.

What is the most popular VAT quarter end?

March, June, September and December. 63.59% of companies will therefore file their VAT return for the same quarter. (Most UK companies will correlate their VAT quarter end period to their yearend).

Contact Us

If you would like more information on a company’s most popular month end date, or any other finance needs you may have, then please don’t hesitate to contact us. You can email us on hello@westwon.co.uk, or alternatively you can call us on 01494 611 456. You can also see more over on our LinkedIn page.