Multiple books in file backend?

[Phil]

FWIW:
One of the calenders my company uses is like this:

13 periods

1st period begins jan 1st.

partial first week plus 4 weeks.

2nd - 13th period begins on a sunday every four weeks.
13th period - 4th week may be less than full week because it ends on 12/31.

For 2003:
01. 01/01 - 02/01
02. 02/02 - 03/01
03. 03/02 - 03/29
04. 03/30 - 04/26
05. 04/27 - 05/24
06. 05/25 - 06/21
07. 06/22 - 07/19
08. 07/20 - 08/16
09. 08/17 - 09/13
10. 09/14 - 10/11
11. 10/12 - 11/08
12. 11/09 - 12/06
13. 12/07 - 12/31

Why is this used? Couldn't find anyone who knew the original reason.  
Currently it's used because so much coding and processes are built around 
it.  But fiscal reporting is now done on calender months.

Another transportation company I worked for used 13 week quarters.  4 
weeks, 4 weeks, 5 weeks.

Phil

>
> Posting the gnucash-devel for the record...
>
> On Mon, 2003-08-04 at 19:35, Phil wrote:
>> On 03 Aug 2003 21:10:38 -0400, Derek Atkins <warlord at MIT.EDU> wrote:
>>
>> >
>> > Ok, what "date-range" would a "13th period" get tied to?
>> >
>> > What I really mean is that just because a transaction is dated, say,
>> > 2002-12-20 does not mean it belongs in the period ending 2002-12-31.
>> >
>> > -derek
>>
>> Transportation companies traditionally have a 13 period year.  I'll look 
>> at my work calender to see what those dates are.  Always starts on the 
>> first sunday or monday of the fiscal year.  I'll check.
>>
>
> That's how my company works.
>
>> I used to work in the acctg dept of a non-profit and we had a 13th 
>> period for all the year-end cleanup.  IIRC it was limited to balance 
>> sheet acct activity only to handle auditor adjustments.  pnl didn't 
>> change.  Mmmm.  Fund Accounting. ;)
>>
>> Phil
>
> Different accounting preferences, it sounds like.  Any accountants care
> to chime in?
>



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