Fiscal calendar accounting

Compare periods that are actually comparable.

Restaurants run on weeks. Calendar months don't. DishBooks gives you both: run any report on 13 periods, 4-4-5, 4-5-4 or 5-4-4, then switch to calendar months whenever you need them. Same data, one click.

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The quiet problem with month-over-month

Calendar month

28-31 days

Every month is a different length, with a different amount of weekends. Comparing February to March sets four weeks of business against four and a half.

DishBooks

Periods per year

13

Fridays per period

4

Weeks per period

4

Days per period

28

Calendars that match how restaurants actually operate

Switch between periods and months on the same report.

Open your P&L and choose how you want it cut: thirteen periods, or standard calendar months. Same data, same report, different lens.

13-period accounting, four weeks in every period.

Thirteen equal periods a year, each exactly four weeks long, so every period holds the same number of weekends, the same number of payroll runs, and the same amount of business.

4-4-5, 4-5-4, and 5-4-4 calendar.

For groups that report on quarters, the standard retail variants keep every quarter equal while letting periods flex in a fixed, predictable pattern.

Standard calendar months, for the people who need them.

Your tax filing, your lender, your landlord and your insurance carrier all work in calendar months. Run the same books that way any time you need to hand something over, without keeping a second set of numbers to do it.

Period over period, or year over year.

Set this period against the last one, or against the same period a year ago, and know the comparison holds up either way you're looking at it.

Payroll runs on weeks. Prime cost runs on weeks. The P&L shouldn't run on something else.

Restaurants run on weeks. Payroll, prime cost, and most operating numbers are tracked weekly. A standard calendar month has an inconsistent number of weeks, so month-over-month comparisons quietly compare unequal amounts of business.

That mismatch doesn't announce itself. It shows up as a month that looked strong and a month that looked soft, when the only real difference was that one of them contained an extra Saturday. Thirteen equal periods remove that distortion, so a change in the numbers reflects a change in the business.

DishBooks runs your books both ways. Look at the operating year in thirteen equal periods, then switch the same report to calendar months when your accountant, your lender, or your tax filing needs it. One set of books, read whichever way the moment calls for.

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Period over period

Equal periods, so the movement is real.

Three consecutive periods of the same length. Every difference below is a difference in the business, not in the number of days you happened to be open.

Period

Days

Net sales

Period 1

28

$96,450

Period 2

28

$99,120

Period 3

28

$94,880

Ask DEX

See how your location is performing period over period.

What changes when periods are equal

A comparison you can trust is the entire point of comparing.

Stop mistaking an extra weekend for growth — or a short month for a problem.
Line prime cost up against payroll, since both already run on weeks.
Compare this period to the same period last year without adjusting for length.
Give your accountant a close that lands on the same cadence every time.
Run a standard 12-period calendar instead, if that's what your lender expects.