Every request has one period end. Each report's period is defined relative to it. That's what lets you roll a whole request forward by changing one date.
Period end
The period end defaults to the last completed month end. If today is October 28, 2026, that's September 30, 2026. You can set any date, but month ends are what QuickBooks closes on and what roll forward moves between.
Period kinds
In the app you pick a period from a list. Over the API you send a period object with a kind.
| In the app | API period | With period end September 30, 2026 | Moves on roll forward |
|---|---|---|---|
| As of the period end | { "kind": "as_of" } | As of September 30, 2026 | Yes |
| Latest month | { "kind": "trailing_months", "months": 1 } | September 2026 | Yes |
| Latest quarter (3 months) | { "kind": "trailing_months", "months": 3 } | July – September 2026 | Yes |
| Trailing 12 months | { "kind": "trailing_months", "months": 12 } | October 2025 – September 2026 | Yes |
| Trailing 24 months | { "kind": "trailing_months", "months": 24 } | October 2024 – September 2026 | Yes |
| Trailing 36 months | { "kind": "trailing_months", "months": 36 } | October 2023 – September 2026 | Yes |
| Fiscal year to date | { "kind": "year_to_date" } | January 1 – September 30, 2026, for a calendar fiscal year | Yes |
| Last complete fiscal year | { "kind": "fiscal_years", "years": 1 } | January – December 2025, for a calendar fiscal year | Yes |
| Last 2 or 3 complete fiscal years | { "kind": "fiscal_years", "years": 2 } or 3 | January 2024 – December 2025, or January 2023 – December 2025 | Yes |
| (API only) Since a date | { "kind": "since", "start": "2024-01-01" } | January 1, 2024 – September 30, 2026 | The end moves |
| (API only) Fixed range | { "kind": "fixed", "start": "2025-01-01", "end": "2025-06-30" } | January – June 2025 | No |
| (API only) Fixed date | { "kind": "fixed_as_of", "date": "2025-12-31" } | As of December 31, 2025 | No |
Over the API, trailing_months accepts 1 to 120 months and fiscal_years accepts 1 to 10 years.
Fiscal years come from QuickBooks
FinShare reads the company's fiscal year start month from QuickBooks when the owner connects. If the fiscal year starts in July, "fiscal year to date" through September 30, 2026 is July 1 – September 30, 2026, and "last complete fiscal year" is July 2025 – June 2026.
If the period end is itself a fiscal year end, that year counts as complete. With a calendar fiscal year and a period end of December 31, 2025, "last complete fiscal year" is 2025.
Which periods fit which reports
Aging reports take only as-of periods. Range reports (P&L, general ledger, trial balance, cash flow, sales by customer) take only ranges. The balance sheet takes either. The app only offers periods that fit the report you picked; the API rejects a mismatch with a clear error.
Basis
QuickBooks keeps one set of books and can report it on an accrual or a cash basis. You choose per report.
- Accrual (the default) recognizes income when invoiced and expenses when billed.
- Cash recognizes them when money moves.
Basis applies to Profit and Loss, Balance Sheet, General Ledger, Trial Balance and Sales by Customer Summary. It doesn't apply to the Statement of Cash Flows or the aging reports, and the app greys the setting out for them.
Ask for both when you need both. The Proof of cash package, for example, has a cash-basis P&L by month next to an accrual one.
Columns
For reports that support it, choose Total, Monthly, Quarterly or Yearly columns. Monthly columns on a 36-month P&L give you 36 columns plus a total. Over the API this is options.summarize_by with total, month, quarter or year.
If QuickBooks can't return a non-GL report in one response because it's too large, the pull fails with a message suggesting a shorter period or quarterly columns instead of monthly.