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Digging through history to find out why the Rotary year starts 1 July.

 

 


By Antoinette Tuscano
Rotary International News

Dollars and some good financial sense are why the Rotary year starts 1 July - at least that's what the RI auditors said, according to 1912-13 RI President Glenn C. Mead's report in the September 1913 issue of The Rotarian.

The auditors found that the organization's affairs had been managed "honestly and carefully." Still, RI was growing and had recently become an international organization, and its needs were changing.

The secretary and treasurer needed more time to prepare, audit, and check the organization's financial statements by the end of the calendar year. The auditors recommended that the organization close its financial books for the year on 30 June, which was after the RI Convention. The Board of Directors agreed, and ever since, the Rotary year has begun on 1 July.