How to annualize data

[Jonathan9]

Hi,

Let's say you're looking at sales data per year and you want to understand the seasonality of it then you would compare the data year on year, no problem there. But there are some factors such as growth rate, market growth etc which skews the data a bit and comparing year on year doesn't tell an accurate picture. So to get a more accurate picture one could annualize the data.

How would one go about doing this?

Thanks!

[etaf]

i would look back at more than just one year - also understanding the market place would be important, how your sales are effected by weather, etc and also any marketing campaigns you have carried out.

one of the factors in our UK service business was the tax year , that had a significant impact on our seasonality, also for NON-UK based business the calendar year.

so i would say understanding those factors would need to estimated and removed from the data

what is the business?