Confused about year-to-date figures?

Question

Let's say that I have a YTD 08 share of 10% and a YTD 07 share of 12%. Data for 08 has been updated until July. Help! Which periods am I comparing? Jan to July 08 and Jan to July 07? Jan to July 08 and Jan to Dec 07? Or is it Jan to July 08 and Jan 07 to July 08???

Answer 1

what are you comparing?Data for 08 is updated mean what's done with it? I think datum is incomplete! Something is updated and not compared.

Answer 2

You've answered your own question. Unless it is specified elsewhere, my best guess is that you are comparing Jan-July 07 to Jan-July 08. That would allow you to compare how well you did in the same time period (7-month span of time) of 2 consecutive years.

Otherwise, you'd be comparing 12-month results from one year to 7-month results of the following year (which is also a possible thing to do).

Tell you what: do all 3 !!! Carefully label each one so that it's crystal-clear to anyone else EXACTLY what you are doing. You might also think about including a 2-color x/y line graph to further illustrate your results.