Companies Act 2014 section 288

Financial year

Section 288 defines when a company's financial year starts and ends, and sets out the rules and restrictions governing how and how often a company may change its financial year end date.

• A company's first financial year runs from incorporation and must end within 18 months; subsequent years are normally 12 months (plus or minus 7 days at the directors' discretion).
• Directors of a holding company must, unless there are substantial reasons disclosed in the notes to the financial statements, align subsidiary undertakings' year ends with that of the holding company.
• A company may change its current or previous financial year end date by filing a prescribed notice with the Registrar, provided the change does not create a financial year exceeding 18 months.
• A company may generally only change its year end once every five years, unless it is aligning with an EEA parent or subsidiary, is being wound up, or receives a direction from the Corporate Enforcement Authority.