A fiscal year (or financial year, or sometimes budget year) is a period used for calculating annual ("yearly") financial statements in businesses and other organizations. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiscal_year

A calendar year is always from January 1st to December 31st. "Fiscal" means "of or relating to money." It's a formal word usually referring to large organizations. The United States has a "fiscal policy." My wife and I would never use the word "fiscal" to talk about our personal finances, we would use words like "finances" or "budget." "Apple’s fiscal year 2014 runs from September 29, 2013 through September 28, 2014." http://investor.apple.com/faq.cfm?FaqSetID=3 "A final budget must be negotiated with the City Council by the new fiscal year, which begins on July 1." http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/09/nyregion/de-blasio-new-york-budget.html?_r=0 Many accounting regulations and government regulations require organizations to publish formal "annual" financial reports, but do not require the year to be a calendar year. I have no idea how or why any organization ends up with the particular dates it does.

The fiscal year (financial year, or budget year) is a period of time when businesses and organizations give reports about accounting and taxes which is required by law. These reports are annual but not always a full calender year. These reports help visualize growth and stability in a company or organization which helps said groups plan for future spending and such.