Fiscal calendar accounting

Compare periods that are actually comparable.

Restaurants run on weeks. Calendar months don't. DishBooks supports 13-period, 4-4-5, 4-5-4, and 5-4-4 fiscal calendars alongside standard 12-period accounting — so period-over-period actually means something.

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The quiet problem with month-over-month

Calendar month

28-31 days

Every month a different length. 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

Every report runs on the same calendar.

Your dashboard, your P&L, and every scheduled report use the calendar you've set, so no two views of the business disagree about when a period ended.

Period-over-period comparison, side by side.

Set this period against the last one, or against the same period a year ago, without adjusting for length or explaining away an extra weekend.

Standard 12-period, if that's what fits.

A conventional calendar year is fully supported. Fiscal calendars are an option because they suit how restaurants operate — not a requirement DishBooks imposes.

4-4-5, 4-5-4, and 5-4-4, if that's your structure.

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

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.

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 KPIs 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. 13-period accounting keeps every period four weeks long, so the comparison is apples-to-apples and a change in the numbers reflects a change in the business.

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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

Ask about a period and get a 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.