18 November 2011
AY - Period of 12 Months Commencing from 1st April to 31st March Immediately following the previous year. i.e The year which follows in the year which you have earned. FY - Accounting period which can start on any day of calender year but must have 12 consecutive months. Acc Y - 12 Months period in which company's accounts are calculated PY - Year in which income earned Prior Year - Prior year can be used to mean a previous year, but doesn't always mean the immediate one. The same is true with prior year
18 November 2011
Let us take an example: Suppose you are preparing accounts for 01.04.2011 to 31.03.2012
AY and PY concept comes in taxation. PY (always from April to March) will be the year for which the accounts is prepared for taxation purposes i.e. 01.04.2011 to 31.03.2012 (11-12) AY (always from April to March) is the immediate 12 months after P.Y. i.e. 01.04.2012 to 31.03.2013 (12-13)
FY & Accounting Year is the concept of Accounts.
FY - It is the 12 months period for which the accounts/financial statements are maintained (In our example, it will be 01.04.2011 to 31.03.2012). It is this period for which the company prepares and publishes its accounts.
Acct Yr - The company may follow additional reporting for some other purposes (like for submitting accounts with Banks, Holding Company). That will be accounting year. It is a general term.
Prior Years - The years which have passed already. In our case all years before 11-12 will be prior year.
Forth years - The years coming after the current FY. All years after 11-12 will be forth years in our example.