Calculate quarterly end dates
IntermediateFiscal calendars often start in a month other than January, so reporting teams need a reliable way to map quarter start dates, quarter end dates, and the number of days in each quarter.
In this exercise, you'll build a small fiscal calendar reference table from one starting date. This is a common pattern in finance reporting because the whole calendar should update when the fiscal year start changes. And day counts help compare quarters fairly.
The EOMONTH function returns the last day of a month that is a given number of months away from a start date.
=EOMONTH(start_date, months)
For example, =EOMONTH("2026-04-15", 0) returns the last day of April 2026, and =EOMONTH("2026-04-15", 2) returns the last day of June 2026.
Your task
Use the fiscal year start date in B1 to complete the fiscal calendar table in B4:D7:
- Fill Quarter start in column B
- Fill Quarter end in column C
- Fill Days in quarter in column D
Q1 starts on the fiscal year start date. Q1 ends at the end of the month two months later. After that, each new quarter starts immediately after the previous quarter ends.
For the days count, subtract the quarter start from the quarter end and add 1 so both boundary dates are included.
Note: Excel does not have a STARTOFMONTH function. To get the first day of a month, you can use =DATE(YEAR(date),MONTH(date),1) or =EOMONTH(date,-1)+1. Though in this exercise, this is not necessary. References and additions should be enough.
Need some help?
Hint 1
Build the table one quarter at a time. In each row, start with the quarter start date, then use EOMONTH to jump to the last day of the month that is two months later.
Hint 2
After Q1 is complete, every later quarter follows the same boundary pattern: the next start is the previous quarter end plus 1 day, and the next end uses that new start date with the same EOMONTH offset.
Calculate quarterly end dates
IntermediateFiscal calendars often start in a month other than January, so reporting teams need a reliable way to map quarter start dates, quarter end dates, and the number of days in each quarter.
In this exercise, you'll build a small fiscal calendar reference table from one starting date. This is a common pattern in finance reporting because the whole calendar should update when the fiscal year start changes. And day counts help compare quarters fairly.
The EOMONTH function returns the last day of a month that is a given number of months away from a start date.
=EOMONTH(start_date, months)
For example, =EOMONTH("2026-04-15", 0) returns the last day of April 2026, and =EOMONTH("2026-04-15", 2) returns the last day of June 2026.
Your task
Use the fiscal year start date in B1 to complete the fiscal calendar table in B4:D7:
- Fill Quarter start in column B
- Fill Quarter end in column C
- Fill Days in quarter in column D
Q1 starts on the fiscal year start date. Q1 ends at the end of the month two months later. After that, each new quarter starts immediately after the previous quarter ends.
For the days count, subtract the quarter start from the quarter end and add 1 so both boundary dates are included.
Note: Excel does not have a STARTOFMONTH function. To get the first day of a month, you can use =DATE(YEAR(date),MONTH(date),1) or =EOMONTH(date,-1)+1. Though in this exercise, this is not necessary. References and additions should be enough.
Need some help?
Hint 1
Build the table one quarter at a time. In each row, start with the quarter start date, then use EOMONTH to jump to the last day of the month that is two months later.
Hint 2
After Q1 is complete, every later quarter follows the same boundary pattern: the next start is the previous quarter end plus 1 day, and the next end uses that new start date with the same EOMONTH offset.