Hello,
When I read the below paragraph I thought of Occam's razor. I believe you have answered your own question. I am not attacking you or being mean; I am just making a statement.
"I will be the first to admit that this theory is approaching true X-Files Conspiracy Level, and therefore might be completely ridiculous. It's entirely possible that the year-end date was switched just because it's easier and more convenient to have it match the calendar year-end. I know this because I once went through the exercise of changing a year-end from early spring to Dec 31st for one of the companies that I owned."
Occam's Razor
is a principle of parsimony, economy, or succinctness used in problem-solving. It states that among competing hypotheses, the one with the fewest assumptions should be selected. Other, more complicated solutions may ultimately prove correct, but—in the absence of certainty—the fewer assumptions that are made, the better.
Mike