Financial year, fiscal year, accounting period

[stellina06]

Hi everybody.
Can anybody explain me which is the difference among the terms:
- financial year
- fiscal year
- accounting period
?
As far as I know, and I have read on WR threads, "Financial year" should be "esercizio finanziario" in Italian. A period of time going from the 1st January to the 31st of December.
"Accounting period" should be "Esercizio contabile", a 12 or even 13 months period long, not necessarily starting on the 1st day of the year.
What about "Fiscal year"? What is it exactly? Is it a "anno fiscale" or "esercizio fiscale"? Isn't "fiscale" translated with "tax" in English?
I'm waiting for your useful suggestions to finally have a clear and right idea about these terms.
Thanks a lot and good afternoon.
Laila

 

[AlabamaBoy]

They all mean about the same thing literally, so it is up to the organization that uses them to pick the terminology and define what it means to them.

Many organizations, including the US Government, choose a fiscal year different from the calendar year, for example, the US Government fiscal year starts October 1. This avoids a lot of the accounting issues when most people are on holiday.