# How to set up the leave year

**For:** Admin
**You'll need:** Owner or Admin role.

You'll choose how {{ app_name }} groups leave entitlements over time — the *leave year*. {{ app_name }} works out which leave year a date falls in automatically; you don't create or close periods by hand. Each year, a nightly job grants the new entitlement and carries the leftover balance forward on its own.

## Open the company settings

1. Open the account dropdown (top-right) and click **'Settings'**.
2. In the right column, find the **'Leave'** section.

## Choose the leave year mode

1. Open the **'Leave year mode'** dropdown.
2. Choose:
   - **'Fixed date'** — everyone's leave year runs from the same anchor day and month (set below). Pick this for a calendar year (1 January) or a fiscal year (e.g. 1 April).
   - **'Hire anniversary'** — each person's leave year runs from their own hire date, so it resets on their work anniversary.

## (Fixed date only) Set the anchor

When the mode is **'Fixed date'**, two fields set where the year starts:

1. **'Leave year start month'** — the month (1–12) the year begins. January is `1`.
2. **'Leave year start day'** — the day of the month (1–31) it begins.

For a standard calendar year, leave both at `1`. For a fiscal year starting 1 April, set month `4`, day `1`.

```{note}
Changing the anchor regroups past balances into shifted windows — the numbers a person sees may move. Change it deliberately, ideally between leave years.
```

In **'Hire anniversary'** mode the anchor fields don't apply.

## Save

Click **'Save'**.

## Verify it worked

Open a person and look at their leave balances. The leave-year window should match what you picked — the same anchor for everyone in fixed-date mode, or each person's own hire anniversary in anniversary mode.

## Related

- {doc}`sick-leave-defaults`
- {doc}`/manage-leave/leave-policies/index`
- {doc}`/manage-leave/leave-policies/carry-over`