Month to date (MTD)

Definition

Month to date (MTD) is a financial metric used to track and analyse the performance of a particular measure or variable from the beginning of the current month up to the present date.

What is month to date?

Month to date provides insight into how a certain metric has performed within the current month relative to previous months or specific targets.

MTD measures the performance of a metric, such as revenue, expenses, sales, or other key performance indicators (KPIs), from the first day of the current month up to the present date. It is typically calculated on a daily basis and provides a real-time snapshot of performance throughout the month.

MTD is calculated by summing up the values of the metric from the first day of the month to the current date. For example, to calculate MTD revenue, you would add up the daily revenue figures from the first day of the month to the present day.

Furthermore, MTD serves as a tool for monitoring progress towards monthly goals, objectives, or budgets. It enables businesses to track their performance in real-time and take corrective actions if performance deviates from expectations.

MTD can be applied to various metrics and performance indicators across different industries and sectors, making it a handy and widely used tool for performance tracking and analysis.

Example of month to date

ABC Corporation is tracking its sales performance for the current month, which is January. Today’s date is January 15th.

To calculate the month to date sales, they sum up all the sales revenue generated from January 1st to January 15th.

For instance, let’s say the sales revenue for the first 15 days of January is £50,000. This represents the total sales revenue earned from January 1st up to January 15th.

Therefore, the month to date sales revenue for ABC Corporation as of January 15th is £50,000.

This MTD figure provides ABC Corporation with a snapshot of their sales performance for the first half of the month, allowing them to monitor progress towards their monthly sales targets.