nendo, getsudo, 3gatsudo
Mark Spahn
and end on December 31. A calendar year is distinguished
from a fiscal year (年度), which begins and ends at
some conventionally set days of the year, typically
beginning on April 1 and ending on March 31.
I sometimes see words like 3月度, which I am guessing
is pronounced "sangatsudo". By analogy, I infer that
"fiscal March" begins on some day other than March 1
and ends on some day other than March 31.
But on what days? Are there companies that, for
some financial purpose, begin their months on other
than the first day of the month? Confirmation of this guess:
http://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q1423981114
Strangely, I was unable to find 月度 in a Japanese dictionary,
under either the reading "getsudo" or "gatsudo".
Taking this one step further, it is possible that a
company could define its 24-hour day to begin at
some time other than midnight. Then we would have a
日度 (how would that be pronounced?).
Or am I completely misunderstanding the meaning
of the suffix -度? To summarize this all in one question:
What does 3月度 mean, and how is it expressed in English?
-- Mark Spahn (West Seneca, NY)
Chika Kamiya
David
accounting purposes on days other than the 1st, although I can't
recall/find any examples offhand. As I recall, though, they didn't use
the -度 suffix when reporting monthly sales, etc. If what you are
seeing is 3月度 alone it probably refers to a fiscal month like you
said. I suspect, however, that most of the time what you are seeing is
preceded by a year, e.g. 2009年3月度, in which case it refers to the
fiscal year ending in March 2009. A company, especially one with 24-
hour operations, could arbitrarily set their "day" to begin at a time
other than midnight for internal accounting/reporting purposes, but I
don't know how the Japanese would be pronounced. Also note that Apr 1
- Mar 31 fiscal year is "typical" in Japan but not necessarily in
other countries. The US government's fiscal year is Oct 1 - Sep 30.
Also, all companies must designate a fiscal year on which their
accounting / financial reporting is based, even if it is Jan 1 - Dec
31 (written 20xx年12月度).
David Spengler