Unless a fiscal year time frame is identified in the constitution, any twelve month period is acceptable for use as the local’s fiscal year. If the fiscal year has not been changed within the past ten years then permission is not needed from the Internal Revenue Service to change to a different period. A fiscal year is any twelve-month accounting time period. Sometimes it is easier if this time period does not follow the regular calendar time. It is truly an arbitrary decision on what the best time frame is, but a year that ends on September 30 is preferable.