Fiscal Quarter Planning — Full Document

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fiscal_year_starts: july

FY2026 Budget: Quarterly Engineering Spend #

An Australian SaaS company allocates its $4.8M annual engineering budget across fiscal quarters. The fiscal year runs July through June.

Annual Budget #

annual_eng_budget = $4,800,000 → $4,800,000.00
quarterly_budget = $4,800,000 / 4 → $1,200,000.00

Fiscal Quarter Dates #

fq1_start = FQ1 → 01-Jul-2026 – 30-Sep-2026
fq1_end = end of FQ1 → Wed, Sep 30, 2026
fq2_start = FQ2 → 01-Oct-2026 – 31-Dec-2026
fq2_end = end of FQ2 → Thu, Dec 31, 2026
fq3_start = FQ3 → 01-Jan-2027 – 31-Mar-2027
fq3_end = end of FQ3 → Wed, Mar 31, 2027
fq4_start = FQ4 → 01-Apr-2027 – 30-Jun-2027
fq4_end = end of FQ4 → Wed, Jun 30, 2027

Daily Run Rates #

Same budget, different day counts per quarter:

fq1_daily = quarterly_budget / (FQ1 in days) → $13,043.48/day
fq2_daily = quarterly_budget / (FQ2 in days) → $13,043.48/day
fq3_daily = quarterly_budget / (FQ3 in days) → $13,333.33/day
fq4_daily = quarterly_budget / (FQ4 in days) → $13,186.81/day

Calendar vs. Fiscal #

Calendar Q3 = Fiscal Q1 with a July fiscal year:

cal_q3 = Q3 → 01-Jul-2026 – 30-Sep-2026
fiscal_q1 = FQ1 → 01-Jul-2026 – 30-Sep-2026

Fiscal Year Boundaries #

fy_start = this fiscal year → 01-Jul-2026 – 30-Jun-2027
fy_end = end of this fiscal year → Wed, Jun 30, 2027

Leap Year Impact #

Compare FQ3 (Jan-Mar) across leap and non-leap years:

fy24_fq3 = Apr 1 2024 - Jan 1 2024 → 91 days
fy25_fq3 = Apr 1 2025 - Jan 1 2025 → 90 days
leap_difference = Apr 1 2024 - Jan 1 2024 - (Apr 1 2025 - Jan 1 2025) → 1 days

Mid-Quarter Reforecast #

14 days into FQ2:

fq2_elapsed = 14 → 14
fq2_per_day = quarterly_budget / number(FQ2 in days) → $13,043.48
fq2_spent = fq2_per_day * fq2_elapsed → $182,608.70
fq2_remaining = quarterly_budget - fq2_spent → $1,017,391.30

Contractor Ramp #

A contractor team starts mid-FQ3 (Jan-Mar) and ramps over 45 days. How many full days remain in FQ3 after ramp?

contractor_start = Jan 15 2025 → Wed, Jan 15, 2025
ramp_end = contractor_start + 45 days → Sat, Mar 1, 2025
fq3_end_date = Mar 31 2025 → Mon, Mar 31, 2025
full_rate_days = fq3_end_date - ramp_end → 30 days
days_in_fq3 = FQ3 in days → 90 days

Key Dates #

board_review = FQ3 + 15 days → Thu, Apr 15, 2027
budget_lock = end of this fiscal year - 2 weeks → Wed, Jun 16, 2027