How would I forecast something(sales) using excel

[Kaushi]

Can someone kindly help how to forecast. For and example lets say I ve got
sales data for the past 10 months. And I need to forecast sales for the next
two months. Also I was given the targeted amounts for the 2 months. I need to
fore cast sales by product to match the final target figure for the 2 months.
Is there a mathamatical way to do it using excel.

Help would be greatly appreciated.

THanks

 

[Gordon]

Can someone kindly help how to forecast. For and example lets say I ve got
sales data for the past 10 months. And I need to forecast sales for the
next
two months. Also I was given the targeted amounts for the 2 months. I need
to
fore cast sales by product to match the final target figure for the 2
months.
Is there a mathamatical way to do it using excel.

Help would be greatly appreciated.

Sales forecasting is part mathematical and part intuition. Yes as you build
up data you can extrapolate, but 10 months only is not sufficient to do it
formulaically, especially if you have seasonal variations (like ice cream!)
in your products.
With just 10 months data the best I would suggest you can do (as a recently
retired Management Accountant) is a "best estimate".

 

[Kaushi]

THanks, I am new to the field, your advice is highly valuable to a beginner.