system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why are fiscal years different than calendar years?
gpt
Because they can be, though they aren't always. 

Let's consider a department store like Macy's or Belk.  These stores do an enormous amount of business in November and December... right around the time a calendar year system would have them trying to close out their books.  Fiscal Year closing is a huge deal and having it happen during your busy times is a recipe for disaster. 

At the same time, business dries up considerably for them by the end of January.  So in both cases they run a fiscal year that runs Feb 1 to January 31st.  Because that way they are closing out their books during a slow time AND they are capturing their biggest months for each fiscal year.