Conference 7.286::digital

    I`m not sure if the IRS would allow us to change the fiscal year to
    Dec. 31st. I don`t think it is that easy to do but I guess it could be
    done......

    Doesn't make logical sense from a Sales perspective as the year end
    crunch would be to get final orders in when both the sales force and
    the customer have their minds on anything but work.

    victor,
          are you sure that this is not an extension of the current
    financial year so that it has 18 months?
    ;-? 

    You can change your fiscal year, both as a company and as an
    individual.  The rules for doing it are pretty complicated, but you can
    change. 
    
    --bonnie

    to build upon .4:
    
    yes, the corporation can change its fiscal year. When any change occurs
    the "adjustment" year must be less than 12 months. [per the SEC]
    
    this has been discussed and rejected for Digital in the past. don't
    know what the status is now.
    
      Annie

    My guess is that we would do this so that we could "show a profit" for
    a fiscal year.  Basically, we let the accountants manipulate the
    figures for a shortened period resulting in a paper profit.

>    My guess is that we would do this so that we could "show a profit" for
>    a fiscal year.  Basically, we let the accountants manipulate the
>    figures for a shortened period resulting in a paper profit.

  Just last week I read in Business Week that a company changed its fiscal year
by one month for this purpose. I forgot which company. Basically a case of
taking money out of one pocket and putting it in another, and making the figures
look different in the process.
  I hope that if Digital changes its fiscal year, it does so for sound business
reasons and not to cover up a loss. I dislike having a FY that ends Dec. 31
for several reasons, one of which is the sales issue mentioned a few replies
back.
  Is it true that it is better for different companies to have fiscal years 
that end at different times so as to spread out the workload at banks, account-
ing firms, etc.?

        Gee, would that mean the FY95 fiscal calendar I just printed out
        would be useless after December 31?
        
        Tom

    What use would there be to have TWO Q1's within a nine month period; we
    barely survive having ONE Q1 in twelve months :^).

    RE: .7
    
    I think that it was Kertweil (?), and they did it to miake their
    financial position look better immediatly before going public. I think
    that they got themselves in a bit of trouble with the SEC, though,
    because doing it distorted the companies position to those that bought
    the offering.
    
    Deb

Nah!
It couldn't be that they want two year-end pushes within a 12 month period!

    I remember making the recommendation to switch our FY to the CY when I
    was in Marketing.  Digital does very little original research, but
    rather uses the figures of the experts...  IDC, G2, Gartner, etc.  Long
    Range Planning and year planning is often substantiated by their
    numbers.  There are good and bad reasons to do this, but the most
    difficult I had was that their market summaries and estimates come at
    year end CY.  By the time we finish long range and year plannig, we are
    using figures that are a year old.
    
    ...Larry

    Maybe the FTC will let us do FY94 all over again.....a chance to show
    everyone what we've learned, since we're such good people at heart...
    
    They could give us an official reprieve and immediately re-instate July
    1993 stock prices!

	It's Groundhog Year.....