Writing & StyleStyle guide

Half-Year Abbreviations: H1 and H2

H1 and H2 can label the first and second halves of a year or fiscal year in business reporting. Microsoft documents H1 and H2 as two six-month fiscal periods and combines them with fiscal-year labels such as FY23 H1.

Quick answer

Use H1 for the first half and H2 for the second half when your organization uses that convention; identify the calendar or fiscal-year basis when it could be ambiguous.

Key details

Core IssueH1 and H2 are compact half-year labels whose date boundaries depend on the reporting calendar
Phrase Rolebusiness reporting abbreviation
Registerfinance, analytics, planning, and professional writing

Important caveats

Context Boundary

Half-year boundaries are organization/calendar dependent, so a label should make the fiscal or calendar context clear when needed.

Further guidance

Meaning

Microsoft explicitly defines H1 and H2 as the two six-month periods in its fiscal program context.

Sources and evidence

Sources are shown with the role they play in this guide. Historical or style-sensitive claims are kept within the evidence boundary described above.

  1. Incentives Co-op and Claims Overview (opens in a new tab)Microsoft Learn · Documented H1/H2 notation for the first and second six-month periods of a fiscal year

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