Month to date (MTD) a time interval or period of accounting equal to one month Quarter to date (QTD) a time interval or period of accounting equal to one business quarter (three months) Year to Date: Fiscal Year vs. Calendar Year When it comes to deciding how to track your payroll and hiring data, and other information, organizations have two choices: using the regular calendar year or a fiscal year. Calendar year This YTD measurement is calendar-based. Most countries, including the US, are on the Gregorian calendar which runs from January 1st to December 31st. Therefore, the first day of the year is January 1st, and the YTD metric will cover the time period up to December 31st, the last day of the year. Most businesses base their financial reporting on this traditional calendar system. Fiscal year Other organizations, preferring alternate start and end dates, report using a fiscal year. Though the reporting year still equals 12 months, the actual start and end dates differ from the calendar year. Example: a company’s fiscal year might have a start date of June 1st, ending on May 31st of the following year. Many organizations use fiscal years, including the US government, which starts its fiscal year on October 1st and ends it on September 30th of the following calendar year.