The Valuation Date at the top of the Financials tab sets which 12 months each column of your financial projections covers. Change it to align the columns with your fiscal year (your company's 12-month accounting period), for example July to June. The key constraint: changing the date only relabels the columns. Your numbers stay where they were, so figures for one fiscal year are not converted to another.
How the valuation date sets your financial years
Every column starts in the month of the valuation date; the day is ignored. The first column, Past year, covers the 12 months that start one year before the valuation date. The next column, Forecasts, starts in the month and year of the valuation date, and each later column follows on.
For example, with a valuation date of 1 July 2025 the columns read:
Past year: 7/2024 - 6/2025
First forecast year: 7/2025 - 6/2026
With a valuation date of 1 January 2025, the same columns read 1/2024 - 12/2024 and 1/2025 - 12/2025. Any columns you added with + Add Past Year step back one year at a time from the Past year column.
What changing the date does not change
Nothing recalculates a July to June year into calendar years, and no figure is split across periods. This matters after an Excel import. The importer places your figures by column heading (Past Year 1, Year 0, Year 1 and so on), not by any dates in your sheet, and it keeps your current valuation date. If your sheet held July to June figures and you then set the valuation date to January, the same figures are now labelled as calendar years.
To change what a year represents, change the numbers:
Recalculate your figures for the periods you want, for example calendar 2024 and calendar 2025.
Put them in the matching columns of your import sheet, or type them into the Financials grid.
Set the Valuation Date so the column labels match those periods.
Click Save financials.
What the valuation date changes in your valuation
The valuation date changes company age, which feeds the default beta and the survival rates. Age is the valuation date's calendar year minus your Year of incorporation answer in the questionnaire.
Beta is one input of the discount rate (WACC, the weighted average cost of capital). Companies under 2 years old, at 2 years, and at 3 years or older get different values. If you set your own beta in Advanced Settings, your value is used instead.
Survival rates weight future cash flows in the DCF methods (discounted cash flow, which values a company on the cash it is expected to generate). These rates come from national statistics for your country.
If the valuation year is 3 or more years before the current year, or earlier than the year of incorporation, the current year is used to work out age instead.
Where the valuation date appears outside Financials
Valuation report: the cover shows the date after As of.
Dashboard: the revenue and cost chart labels each forecast year with the month range that starts at the valuation date.
Import Data: when it reads documents other than the Equidam template, the review screen labels years by the year they start, such as 2024, or 2024/25 when your fiscal year does not start in January. A figure the documents give for calendar 2024 goes into the fiscal year that starts in 2024.
Limits
No plan restriction applies: you can change and save the valuation date on any plan, including the free plan.
The date picker does not offer dates more than 2 years before today. If you save a new date older than about 2 years, the save fails with "A new start year cannot be older than 2 years". A date that was already saved is not rechecked.
The change is not stored until you click Save financials.
If you change the valuation date or the number of years after Import Data has read your documents, applying those financials fails with "Your financial years changed after these files were read. Upload the files again to get figures for the current years."
Common questions
Does changing only the month change my valuation?
No. Company age uses only the year, so a month change within the same year leaves the valuation unchanged. The column labels, the dashboard chart labels and the report date do change.
Does the day of the month matter?
Only on the report cover, which shows the full date. Column labels use the month and year, and company age uses the year.
Can I set a valuation date in the future?
Yes. The picker sets no upper limit, and the 2-year check only rejects dates in the past.