quartertodate

Quarter-to-date (QTD) is a time period metric used in finance and business reporting. It refers to the interval from the start of the current fiscal quarter to the current date. QTD is used to measure progress within the quarter and to compare performance against plans, budgets, prior quarters, or forecasts.

Key characteristics include its anchoring to the organization’s fiscal calendar rather than the calendar year. The quarter itself is fixed, but the portion of the quarter covered by QTD grows day by day as the date advances. Reports often present QTD alongside other timeframes to provide context.

Calculation is straightforward: aggregate the relevant metric from the first day of the current quarter up to today. This can apply to revenue, expenses, units sold, headcount, or other KPIs. Many dashboards show QTD figures alongside budgets, prior QTD, and the corresponding YTD (year-to-date) values for comparison.

Examples help illustrate the concept. If a company’s fiscal quarter starts on January 1 and today is February 15, QTD would cover January 1 through February 15 for that quarter. If the date falls near the end of the quarter, QTD approximates the entire quarter’s activity.

Relation to other measures: QTD is commonly used together with MTD (month-to-date) and YTD. While QTD focuses on the current quarter, YTD aggregates from the start of the fiscal year, and MTD from the start of the current month. The choice of fiscal calendar is essential, as QTD definitions vary across organizations.