Question on Fiscal Year Definition

[Brady556]

I know when something is dated, the year is the fiscal year. What does this exactly mean? Say something is dated May 1968. When was this actually made and actually issued? 

[Hookemhorns88]

Fiscal Year is actually what companies refer to for financial purposes.  The fiscal year varies from company to company.  It is not a calendar year.

 

Some companies that I have had experience with all had different fiscal years. One was from January 1 thru December 31.  The other one was from November 1 thru October 31.  The most recent one is from April 1 thru March 31.

 

It gets confusing when someone simply says 1Q or 2Q, etc.  Are they talking about 1Q calendar year or 1Q fiscal year FY1Q)?

 

I do not know for sure but I would suspect your example is calendar year being that it was made in May 1968 which would be 2Q68.

 

Do not confuse physical year with fiscal year.

[Old Crow 1986]

The US Federal Government Fiscal Year (FY) begins 1 October and runs through 30 September.  The current US Federal Fiscal Year began 1 October 2019 and will run until midnight 30 September 2020.  1 October 2020 will be the first day of US Government Fiscal Year 2021.  ALL Federal Government funding is based on this October through following September calendar.  That means all US Government contracting actions are based on this Oct to Sept year. 

 

In the context of your question, when you see a contract number with a specific year (85, 86...09,10...19,20) or the code for year on a US Government piece of gear it is the Fiscal Year that the contract was signed - and NOT necessarily the date the piece of gear was produced.  

 

For example: the tail numbers for US Air Force aircraft look something like 13-267.  The "13-XXX" part identifies that aircraft as purchased by the US Government with FY 2013 funds.  When the aircraft was actually manufactured and delivered to the Air Force is an altogether different date.  But the Air Force ordered ...AND PROMISED TO PAY FOR...the aircraft in the timeframe 1 Oct 2012 to 30 Sept 2013.  

 

Back to your question, if something is stamped with a Defense Logistics Agency contract number dated "May 1968" that's the date the US Government signed the contract to have the thing made.  The thing may have been made the day after the contract was signed or months or - depending on the contract - even years later. When was it issued?  Impossible to say.  Items can go directly to the field almost immediately (MREs) or can sit warehoused for years (16 in battleship shells manufactured during World War II and actually fired during Desert Storm.)   

 

 

[Edelweisse]

In the mid 1970s ....the US Government changed the Fiscal Year from July to October because Congress needed more time to approve the budget.

[Cap Camouflage Pattern I]

Before in 1976 the US Government fiscal year was 1 July  - 30 June and was ahead of the calendar year, for example August 1967 was the first quarter of Fiscal Year 1968.

 

In 1976 the fiscal year was changed to run from 1 October to 30 September, still ahead of the calendar year. To cover the gap 1976 had a fifth quarter from 1 July - 30 September.

 

For your example of something dated may 1968, the fiscal year does not affect the months, so may 1968 is may 1968.

 

As for when it was made, that depends on what you mean by dated. Some items, often ones that degrade over time like medical supplies, ammunition, food, will have the manufacture date printed on it.

 

More shelf stable items like pouches generally fo not have a manufacture date. Instead the only dates you will find on it will be the date the contract was awarded to the manufacturer. That item cannot* be older than that date, but can be newer.

 

Often the manufacturer will have to adjusting their tooling to manufacture the items. Then they will have to make a sample and wait for approval. After that production can begin, which could last a month or could last years, depending on the contract.

 

In some cases production may not begin for a year or two, in others subsequent procurement of the same item from the same manufacturer will be done through the same contract, so an item could be made a decade after the contract was awarded. The specifications can even be completely changes under the same contract. Some contracts are indefinite quantity and indefinite duration.

 

*in very rare cases the date will be earlier or later then when the contract was actually awarded, for reasons that are a mystery to me.

 

 

There are so many intricacies and caveats to goverment contracts that a whole book could be written on the subject.