It has been 6 months of demanding work for most Auditors and Accountants. Most Companies in Nigeria are 31 December financial year-end. Some companies are 31 December due to:

• Regulatory requirements e.g Banks, Insurers, Stockbrokers, etc;
• Desire to be aligned to Government fiscal year or personal decisions.

For those that are mandated to have their financial year-end as 31 December, it is understandable but why do you choose 31 December when it is not mandatory for your company.

With 31 December being year-end for most companies in Nigeria, auditors and accountants work very hard to meet up with the reporting deadline. What you experience, is that Clients with fat cheques get the attention of the Auditors, and most time, they meet the reporting deadline earlier compare with smaller companies.

It is also a common occurrence to experience regulatory filing difficulties on the last day of filing of 30 June for 31 December year-end client. The heavy internet traffic on the Tax Authority website crashes the website on such date and usually difficult to file returns.

Instead of selecting 31 December as your financial year-end, you can also align your year-end with your business cycle. A school can choose 30 September year-end as it aligns with the Student Academic calendar.

Our suggestion is always if you are not mandated to be a 31 December year-end client, please choose another month for your financial year-end. You will receive better service and attention from your auditors and tax authority because work pressure will be less. March, June, or September is a good alternative financial year-end to choose.