Accounting / YOY Question

triggerthat · 14 Feb 2015 at 02:13

I want to showcase some numbers in terms of YOY performance. Eg. I have stats for period 2012 (X sales) 2013 (Y sales) and 2014 (Z sales).

What is the best way of stating YoY growth?

Eg. Increased sales from X in 2013, to Y in 2013 to Z in 2014.

Or is it acceptable to say the following?

Eg. Increased sales by A% from X in 2012 to Z in 2014 (decreased cost by 45% to £XXX).

[FnG]magnolia · 14 Feb 2015 at 04:00

It depends on your audience but generally the value with the percentage in parentheses gives both sides of the story you are trying to share.

The numbers don't change but what you say about them and how you choose to express them might depending on who you're talking to at any one time.

Rich_L · 14 Feb 2015 at 06:24

Second one reads a lot better to me - if they want exact figures they can presumably ask for them or stick them in an appendix

triggerthat · 14 Feb 2015 at 15:54

[FnG]magnolia;27628927 said:
It depends on your audience but generally the value with the percentage in parentheses gives both sides of the story you are trying to share.

The numbers don't change but what you say about them and how you choose to express them might depending on who you're talking to at any one time.

Thanks. Makes sense.

If I started work let's say in June 2013, it would be unfair to compare 2012 figures? How would I show case the impact of work I did? Would it be June-Dec 2013 vs June-Dec 2014? Unfortunately I don't have 2012 numbers broken down by month.

Quartz · 14 Feb 2015 at 16:11

This is for your CV, right? In which case specific monetary figures might well be commercially confidential. So you might put it as something like:

Increased sales by X% from 2012-2014; reduced costs by 45% in same period.

triggerthat · 14 Feb 2015 at 16:34

CV yes. However, most professionals in industry mention stats as the role is perfomrance driven as it adds more weight.

semi-pro waster · 14 Feb 2015 at 17:28

triggerthat said:
Thanks. Makes sense.

If I started work let's say in June 2013, it would be unfair to compare 2012 figures? How would I show case the impact of work I did? Would it be June-Dec 2013 vs June-Dec 2014? Unfortunately I don't have 2012 numbers broken down by month.

You could possibly use 2012 figures as a baseline for a Bt scenario (Before triggerthat) but if you can't give it broken down into the same time period then it's probably a bit meaningless as there may be seasonal patterns which have nothing to do with your work.

I'd probably be tempted to break it into half-yearly segments if that's the largest period you've got i.e. Jan-Jun 2013 (Bt scenario) Jul-Dec 2013, Jan-Jun 2014 and Jul-Dec 2014 then show an increasing trend in sales or reducing cost base - assuming that's the case or whatever it is you want to illustrate. Of course it won't properly reflect the seasonal variations that might apply and how you've boosted sales above and beyond them or reduced costs but there could be many factors that affect that so just go with what you've got.

Pipe & Slippers · 14 Feb 2015 at 21:55

Be careful with paraentheses that they indicate what you want them to. Many organisations use parentheses to denote a negative instead of minus signs

[FnG]magnolia · 14 Feb 2015 at 22:15

Pipe & Slippers said:
Be careful with paraentheses that they indicate what you want them to. Many organisations use parentheses to denote a negative instead of minus signs

I'm trying to parse this but am hitting a wall. What do you mean? Can you explain it it in a different way?

semi-pro waster · 15 Feb 2015 at 09:50

[FnG]magnolia;27632261 said:
I'm trying to parse this but am hitting a wall. What do you mean? Can you explain it it in a different way?

When you're listing figures some organisations use (6) to indicate a negative rather than -6. It can be easy to miss the minus sign when it's just "-" although I prefer the belt and braces approach of changing the colour to red and having brackets around the figures that are negative.

There can also be a complication that, somewhat counter-intuitively, some organisations put income as a negative or a credit (depending on your thinking) to offset their costs e.g. August sales of (20,000). If there's a recognised company or industry style then use that, if not be as clear as possible and be ready to explain it if asked. I would suspect if triggerthat is going to put some text along with the numbers to explain it won't be an issue whichever way he chooses to display it.

Or maybe the above is nothing to do with the point Pipe & Slippers was making and I've gone off at a complete tangent.

Pipe & Slippers · 16 Feb 2015 at 12:51

No you are bang on - there can be big problems with negative numbers and the way they are displayed - particularly in excel
Many people use the format where the minus sign is justified on the left of a cell and the numbers are justified to the right...one fat finger expanding the column inappropriately and the interpretation turns from a negative number to a positive one 'cos the minus sign is miles away....
Remember the Super-Dry profit forecast mess-up a few years ago that sent their share price plunging? - I don't know the ins and outs but I bet it was something stupid like that happening