Year to Date (YTD)

Year to date refers to the period extending from the beginning of the year to the present. In business, note that the beginning of the year is not always January 1; many companies have fiscal years beginning at other times.

Let's assume Company XYZ's fiscal year began on January 1 and that today is March 31. During this time, Company XYZ recorded the following:

By adding the revenue from the beginning of Company XYZ's fiscal year to the present, we can calculate that Company XYZ's year-to-date revenue is $4,500,000.

Year-to-date information is useful in looking for trends or measuring performance against goals.

Comparing year-to-date information among companies with different fiscal-year start dates can distort an analysis: the time included may vary, and seasonal factors may become skewed. It is also important to remember that the extra day in leap years may distort year-to-date comparisons.