Fiscal Periods define the financial reporting structure used across projects in Altus. They align budgets, forecasts, and actuals to defined time periods (e.g. monthly periods within a financial year).

Maintaining fiscal periods ensures consistent financial tracking, reporting accuracy, and governance across the organisation.

Important: Permissions Required

This task is available to users with administrative access to Settings in Altus.

• If you do not see the required options, you may not have sufficient permissions
• Contact your system administrator to request access or support

Accessing Fiscal Periods

1. Navigate to Settings
2. Locate the Project Configuration section
3. Select Fiscal Periods

This view displays all fiscal periods, including:

• Period Name
• Period Start and Finish Dates
• Locked Fiscal Period status

Creating Fiscal Periods

Create Individual Fiscal Period

1. Select New
2. Enter required details:
3. • Period Name (e.g. FY 2025–26 Month 1)
   • Period Start Date
   • Period Finish Date
3. Select Save or Save & Close

Bulk Create Fiscal Periods

Use Bulk Create to generate a full set of fiscal periods efficiently.

1. Select Bulk Create
2. Complete the required fields:

Start Date

• Defines the first fiscal period start (e.g. 1 July for FY start)

Period Duration

• Defines the length of each period (e.g. 1 Month, 1 Year)

Number of Periods

• Defines how many periods to generate (e.g. 12 for monthly periods)

Sequence Seed

• Defines the starting number for the sequence (e.g. 1 = Month 1)

Name Template

• Defines how periods will be named
• Supports tokens such as:
• • {sequence}
  • {start}
  • {finish}

1. Select Bulk Create

This will automatically generate a structured set of fiscal periods.

Updating Fiscal Periods

To update an existing fiscal period:

1. Select the Fiscal Period
2. Update required fields as needed
3. Select Save or Save & Close

Opening and Closing Fiscal Periods

Fiscal periods are controlled using the Locked Fiscal Period field.

Closing a Fiscal Period (Locked = True)

• Prevents further updates to financial data within the period
• Ensures financial data is finalised and protected
• Used after period-end reporting is complete

Opening a Fiscal Period (Locked = False)

• Allows updates to financial data
• Used for corrections or adjustments

Important: Managing Period Continuity

Fiscal periods must form a continuous, gap-free timeline.

• The system does not support gaps between fiscal periods
• You cannot delete a fiscal period if it creates a break in the sequence
• All periods must align sequentially (end date → next start date)

This ensures:

• Accurate financial reporting
• Consistent aggregation across time periods
• Reliable system calculations

How Fiscal Periods Are Used

Fiscal periods are applied across:

• Budget planning
• Cost tracking
• Forecasting

When entering financial data:

• Values are assigned to a fiscal period
• Reporting groups and aggregates data based on these periods

Key Considerations

• Align fiscal periods with your organisation’s financial calendar
• Ensure periods are sequential with no overlaps or gaps
• Lock periods promptly after reporting to maintain integrity
• Plan fiscal periods in advance for future reporting cycles

Tips

• Use Bulk Create to quickly generate yearly structures
• Apply consistent naming conventions (e.g. FY + Month)
• Avoid deleting periods—adjust carefully to maintain continuity
• Only reopen periods under controlled governance