Understanding “This Year” vs “Last Year” in Financial Statements

(sometimes called “Current Year”)

When you prepare your year-end financial statements, you’ll usually see two columns side by side:

• This Year (or Current Year)
• Last Year

These columns help anyone reading your statements understand how your organisation’s finances have changed over time. Here’s how it works.

Summary (TL/DR)

• This Year: Calculated from the current year’s transactions.
• Last Year: Copied from last year’s financial statements—never recalculated.
• Its our First Year: Leave the comparative column blank or remove it.
• Changes between years: If something looks unusual, provide a short explanation in the notes.

What “This Year” Means

This Year is the financial year you are currently reporting on.
For example, if your financial year ends on 31 March 2026, then “This Year” covers 1 April 2025 – 31 March 2026.

When preparing your statements, you are only calculating and entering this year’s figures. These come from:

• Your bank statements
• Your accounting system or spreadsheet
• Any manual records (e.g., petty cash logs)
• Other records when preparing the Statement of Service Performance.

Every amount in the “This Year” column is based on the transactions that happened during your most recent financial year.

What “Last Year” Means

The Last Year column exists so readers can compare your organisation’s financial activity between two years.

Here’s the key point:

You are not recalculating last year’s numbers. You should copy them directly from last year’s financial statements.

Do not re-enter transactions or recompute totals from scratch.
The comparative column should always match what was published in your previous set of financial statements.

Why Comparatives Matter

Comparatives make the statements more meaningful. They help to show:

• Are donations increasing or decreasing?
• Are operating costs stable?
• Is the organisation growing, shrinking, or staying steady?

Funders, auditors, and the public expect to see these year-to-year movements.

What If This Is Your First Year?

If your organisation is brand new and has never prepared financial statements before, there is no prior year to compare against.

In this case, you have two options:

1. Leave the “Last Year” column blank, or
2. Remove the column entirely.

Both approaches are acceptable because you simply don’t have a previous financial year.

What If You Changed Accounting Tools?

If you switched systems (e.g., from spreadsheets to Good Numbers, or from cash to accrual accounting), your Last Year figures should still come from your previously published statements.
Do not restate them unless you have a very specific reason and understand the implications.

If there is a mismatch because of the way things were categorised in the past, you can use a note to explain it, for example:

“Last year’s figures are shown as per previously reported statements. Some categories may differ due to changes in how transactions are grouped this year.”