Hi Kathleen,

You are absolutely right.

However, there is ONE place where you can - comparing one period to another immediately preceding.

In other words, if you wanted to compare all of 2018 to 2017, you could choose a profit and loss for 1/1/18 to 12/30/18 and instead of "prior year" choose "prior period".  

but again, that only works for the period immediately preceding, and you have to be dealing with totals.  as you state, no january to january comparisons, but yes to comparing jan 2019 to dec 2018.

I'm working on formalizing a way to approach restaurant books and customizations that can help owners, accountants, and operators better.  A webinar next week is the beginning of that, feel free to reach out if you'd be interested!

Kristen Nies Ciraldo