Hi I need help calculating percentage of sales when the original target is negative but result is positive ???

Question

eg target was to lose negative $-35000 but actually result was positive $38000 what is the percentage of sales??? what is the formula to use in excel to calculate this figure is very easy with positive numbers but negative really through me out

Answer 1

Just change the sign. If the target loses a negative, it's the same as gaining the absolute value of the negative number.
i.e. x-(-35000)=38000, where x is the original value (3000).
That's a (38000-3000)/3000 * 100 % change.
If this is not the case, the formula for finding % change is the same regardless of the sign. Just put in the numbers you have with the signs intact. That formula is:

finalValue-InitialValue
----------------------------X 100% = % change.
InitialValue

I don't know how to put that in the spreadsheet off the top of my head, but I think you can get it from there.

Answer 2

The formula is (41*100)/300 The reason is 1% of 300 is 300/100. You want to know how many '1%s' are in 41, so you divide 41 by 300/100.

Answer 3

It can't be done actually. Normally, you'd use the rate function, but only works on one side. Just consider the results "very good".

In this case, you'd probably be better off referring to results in terms of total sales (i.e. sales were 138,000 vs projections of 65,000).