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Business trend analysis is a way for companies to determine future results in economic
marketplaces. Reviewing past information can help management understand current
trends and where a market niche may be for a product. Current operations may also be
reviewed by trend analysis to determine the strength of certain product lines and if the
market will maintain the current supply of goods.

Definition
1. Business trend analysis is a tool used by management to gauge past economic
history and prepare for future events. Many types of trend analysis may be used
depending on the business industry. Most trend analysis involves gathering
several types of information, inputting the information into a computerized
system, generating reports and analyzing the reports for meaning. Companies will
review current year information against the previous year to analyze the business
cycle.

Importance
2. Trend analysis can provide critical economic information about current business
situations. Identifying current product trends, determining the strength of an
industry or capitalizing on emerging markets are all results of trend analysis.
Trend analysis also helps to eliminate uncertainties in business, such as slow
sales, inventory overstock and seasonal consumer demand. Reliable information
allows management to make crucial business decision regarding current
operations.

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estimation-1501838.html

What Does Trend Analysis Mean?

An aspect of technical analysis that tries to predict the future movement of a stock based
on past data. Trend analysis is based on the idea that what has happened in the past gives
traders an idea of what will happen in the future.

There are three main types of trends: short-TERM,intermediate- and long-term.

The term "trend analysis" refers to the concept of collecting information and attempting
to spot a pattern, or trend, in the information. In some fields of study, the term "trend
analysis" has more formally-defined meanings.

TREND ESTIMATION:

Trend estimation is a statistical technique to aid interpretation of data. When a series of

measurements of a process are treated as a time series, then the application of trend
estimation can be used to make and justify statements about trends in the data. Using
trend estimation, it is possible to construct a model which is independent of anything
known about the physics of a process of an incompletely understood physical system. This
model can then be used to explain the behaviour of a measurement.

Process may refer to:Biology Process, a projection or outgrowth of tissue from a larger
body. Biological processScience and technnology Process ,a computer program or an
instance of a program running concurrently with other programs...
is treated as a time series

Time series

In statistics, signal processing, and many other fields, a time series is a sequence of data
points, measured typically at successive times, spaced at time intervals trend estimation is
the application of statistics Statistics

Statistics is a Mathematics pertaining to the collection, analysis, interpretation or

explanation, and presentation of data. It also provides tools for prediction and forecasting
based on data techniques to make and justify statements about trend

Trend may refer to:In Business:* Market trends, a prolonged period of time when prices
in a financial market are rising or falling faster than their historical average, also known
as "bull" and "bear" markets, respectively.

Assuming the underlying process is a physical system that is incompletely understood,

one may thereby construct a model, independent of anything known about the physics of
the process, to explain the behaviour of the measurement. In particular, one may wish to
know if the measurements exhibit an increasing or decreasing trend, that can be
statistically distinguished from random behaviour. For example, take daily average
temperatures at a given location, from winter to summer; or the global temperature series
over the last 100 years.
http://articles4u.yolasite.com/trend-analysis

What Does Trend Analysis Mean?

An aspect of technical analysis that tries to predict the future movement of a stock based
on past data. Trend analysis is based on the idea that what has happened in the past gives
traders an idea of what will happen in the future.

There are three main types of trends: short-, intermediate- and long-term.The term "trend
analysis" refers to the concept of collecting information and attempting to spot a pattern,
or trend, in the information. In some fields of study, the term "trend analysis" has more
formally-defined meanings.

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http://business-resources.suite101.com/article.cfm/inventory_analysis_for_entrepreneurs

Inventory Analysis

A Guide to Analyzing Inventory for Small Business

Owners
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Dec 16, 2009 Jo Nelgadde

Inventory Analysis

A Guide to Analyzing Inventory for Small Business

Owners
Share Article |

Dec 16, 2009 Jo Nelgadde

Learn how to perform inventory analysis and inventory turnover analysis to better
understand a business as well as to identify effective inventory management.

A consultant is often tasked with analyzing a company’s financial performance and

understanding how companies analyze their inventories in order to initiate performance
improvement. Analyzing a company’s financial performance definitely includes
performing inventory analysis.

There are three types of business inventory:

• Raw Materials (RM)

• Work-In-Progress (WIP)
• Finished Goods (FG)

Total Cost of Goods Sold on the income statement is computed from beginning RM as
follows:

1. Beginning RM + Purchase of RM – Ending RM = RM used

2. Beginning WIP + RM used + Direct Labor + Indirect Labor and other
manufacturing overhead – Ending WIP = Cost of Goods Manufactured
3. Beginning FG + Cost of Goods Manufactured – Ending FG = Cost of Goods Sold

Inventory Analysis using Trend Analysis

Trend analysis is often used to analyze inventory figures to identify significant changes in
the company’s operations. When using trend analysis, we may use various sources of
information from the business, its competitors, and peer companies, industry averages,
and other relevant information such as industry benchmarks. This includes benchmarking
ratio of purchase orders to payables and trend analysis in production inventory
management. Trends could also vary depending on the nature and principal activity of the
business venture, such as an e-commerce outlet or a high-tech biotechnology venture.

Inventory analysis using trend analysis over a period of time provides information that is
useful in evaluating operating performance and assessing the current year’s expected
condition of a company’s inventory. This can be done either over a two year or five year
period, depending on the extent of information required for the analysis
http://business-resources.suite101.com/article.cfm/accounts-payable-analysis-for-
entrepreneurs

Accounts Payable Analysis for Entrepreneurs

A Guide to Performing Analysis on Trade Creditors

and Payments
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Feb 15, 2010 Jo Nelgadde

Accounts payable, otherwise known as trade creditors or AP or A/P, is a type of working

capital that refers to amounts which entrepreneurs have yet to pay their suppliers for
goods purchased. In accounting, payable amounts are a result of business owners getting
credit from their suppliers. The amount of accounts payable, which is a liability on a
company’s financial report, depends on the number of suppliers the company has, the
volume of the company’s cost of goods sold and the amount of credit extended by its
suppliers.

Payment of accounts payable is an important part of monitoring a company’s cash flow

and business finance as it is represents a cash outflow in its cash account and insight to
how a startup’s days cash on hand or days payable outstanding figures are. As such,
learning about accounts payable analysis can prove vital for entrepreneurs and an
essential part of small business bookkeeping.

Accounts Payable Analysis and How Companies Analyze their

Accounting Payable Amounts

Trend analysis is a part of business analysis and is often used to analyze accounts payable
and other working capital figures to identify significant changes in the company’s
operations and financial accounts. When using trend analysis, the entrepreneur may use
various sources of information from the business, its competitors, and peer companies,
industry averages, and other relevant information such as industry benchmarks. Trends
could also vary depending on the nature and principal activity of the business venture,
such as an e-commerce outlet or a high-tech biotechnology venture.

Trend analysis over a period of time provides information that is useful in evaluating
operating performance and assessing the current year’s expected condition of a
Company’s accounts payable and efficiency of payments. This can be done either over a
two year or five year period, depending on the extent of information required for the
analysis. Learn how to make income statement projections for business plans in a related
article. Also learn about balance sheet projections for business plans in another article.

Sample Analysis of Accounts Payable for Entrepreneurs

• Compare purchases made from major suppliers against prior periods.

• Compare the related payments periods with prior periods.
• Compare current-year’s to prior-year’s allowance for doubtful creditors, write-
offs, and related expense as a percentage of accounts payable and cost of goods
sold.

When performing comparisons over years, certain trends may be distorted by non-
recurring items such as:

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ble_analysis_for_entrepreneurs
Accounts Receivable Analysis

A Guide to Analyzing Trade Debtors for Small Business

Owners
Jan 14, 2010 Jo Nelgadde

A business consultant is often tasked with analyzing a company’s financial performance

and understanding how companies analyze their receivables in order to initiate
performance improvement. Analyzing a company’s financial performance definitely
includes performing accounts receivable analysis.

Accounts receivable, otherwise known as trade debtors or AR or A/R, is a type of

working capital that refers to amounts from which entrepreneurs have yet to receive from
their customers for goods sold. Receivables are a result of entrepreneurs extending credit
to their customers. The amount of accounts receivable, which is an asset on a company’s
financial report, depends on the number of customers the company has, the volume of the
company’s sales and the amount of credit extended to its customers.

Collection of accounts receivable or debt collection is an important source of a

company’s cash flow and business finance. As such, learning about accounts receivable
analysis can prove vital for entrepreneurs.
Types and Calculation of Accounts Receivable

There are mainly two types of accounts receivable:

• Current debts
• Debts that are past due

Past due debts are accounts receivable that are overdue for payment from the customers.
For example, a sale of $100 made on 15 January 2010 to customer ABC with credit terms
of 30 days means that as of 31 March 2010, the amounts are past due and there is a
required debt collection of $100.

http://www.bettermanagement.com/library/library.aspx?l=9829

Trend Analysis in Manufacturing for Quality Improvement

By Ashweni Sahni
ASH & Associates

Once we have established a manufacturing process, we want it to remain in control, with

minimum variation. This is because process variation, if it is too much, more often than
not, leads to non-conformance in the product, which in practical terms means a waste of
time, money, and resources for the manufacturer and potential dissatisfaction for the
customer.

Trend analysis is a tool that we can use to monitor production processes, analyze process
variation, identify its assignable causes and take corrective actions to bring processes into
a state of control. These also meet the requirements of ISO 9000 and FDA's
requirements, as well as maintain the quality of the products. This paper will explain the
basic principals of trend analysis, a variety of unnatural data patterns and their probable
causes.
http://www.oecd.org/document/11/0,3343,en_36702145_36702273_37214987_1_1_1_1,
00.html

Trend Analysis as a Method

In scenario development, trend analysis can be a powerful tool for developing robust
content, content that can erase prejudices and open minds by exploring and
combining far-reaching developments that might affect the environment and
conditions in which education takes place.

A Tool for rigorous thinking

Trend analysis means looking at how a potential driver of change has developed over
time, and how it is likely to develop in the future. Rational analysis of development
patterns provides a far more reliable basis for speculation and prediction than reliance on
mere intuition. Several trends can be combined to picture a possible future for the sector
of interest, such as schooling. Trend analysis does not predict what the future will look
like; it becomes a powerful tool for strategic planning by creating plausible, detailed
pictures of what the future might look like.

From broad to narrow scope

Trends vary in their breadth of application: trends in such areas as demographics -

population and migration patterns for example - are broadly applicable, in sectors ranging
from schools to national security. Narrower trends in schooling include education budgets,
curriculum, school settings and modalities, teachers' salaries, and the average age and
gender of school leavers.

Branching paths

Each trend suggests many lines of enquiry. For example, take the trend toward longer
lives, also known as 'the aging society'; given that schooling is to prepare people for life,
what is the proper role of schooling for the learning and cultural needs of the elderly?
How might higher pension spending affect school budgets? These are just two of the
many issues that arise from this one trend. Combining several trends, and considering the
questions raised by each, can generate a rich picture of how a sector might develop.

Key in the scenario development

The large range of possibilities opened by trend analysis makes it key for developing
robust scenarios that meet essential criteria:

Plausible: Logical, consistent and believable

Relevant: Highlighting key challenges and dynamics of the future
Divergent: Different from each other in strategically significant ways
Challenging: Questioning fundamental beliefs and assumptions

Schooling for Tomorrow therefore uses trends to raise important questions for the
education sector. The main trends investigated so far are: aging societies, population
growth, widening inequalities in wealth and income, increasing diversity in the ethnic
make-up of OECD countries, urbanisation, globalisation, the shift to a knowledge-based
economy, and the evolving nature of work. Current research is looking more specifically
into educational trends.

Using the SfT Trends Shaping Education Publication as a starting point

The SfT Trends Shaping Education Publication [see below] offers briefs on the trends
investigated so far and relates each of them to education, by suggesting questions on how
they might affect schooling in particular. In each situation - nationally, regionally or
locally, in schools or in ministries - it is essential to identify the key trends and think how
they may affect the issue at hand. The trends in the SfT Trends Shaping Education
Publication can only serve as starting points or inspiration for several reasons:

Trends vary from place to place - The SfT Trends Shaping Education Publication
describes international trends, and local trends may differ. The international trend towards
longer lives has exceptions; some countries in Central and Eastern Europe have not had
the big gains, and in many African countries HIV/AIDS has reduced life-expectancy over
the past 15 years.

Global trends affect different places differently - Rising sea levels will not affect Nepal
directly, but will require major infrastructure spending in the Netherlands and threaten
disaster for Bangladesh.

The SfT Starter Pack provides guidance on how to use and critically examine trends. It
also outlines methods to identify trends and drivers that directly and indirectly influence
the scenario's subject.

http://www.web-articles.info/e/a/title/Trend-impact-analysis-and-cross-impact-analysis/

Trend-impact analysis is a technique for projecting future trends from information

gathered on past behavior. The uniqueness of this method lies in its combination of
statistical method and human judgment. If predictions are based on quantitative data
alone, they will fail to reflect the impact of unprecedented future events. On the other
hand, human judgment provides only subjective insights into the future. Therefore,
because both human judgment and statistical extrapolation have their shortcomings, both
should be taken into consideration when predicting future trends. In trend-impact analysis
(TIA), past history is first extrapolated with the help of a computer. Then the judgment of
experts is sought (usually by means of the delphi technique) to specify a set of unique
future events that may have a bearing on the phenomenon under study and to indicate
how the trend extrapolation may be affected by the occurrence of each of these events.
The computer then uses these judgments to modify its trend extrapolation. Finally, the
experts review the adjusted extrapolation and modify the inputs in those cases in which
an input appears unreasonable.

To illustrate TIA methods, let us consider the case of the average price of a new
prescription drug to the year 2005. The events considered relevant include (a) generic
dispensing, which increases 20 percent of all prescriptions filled; (b) Medicaid and
Medicare prescription reimbursement, which is based on a fixed monthly fee per covered
patient (“capitation plan”); and (c) a 50 percent decrease in the average rate of growth in
prescription size. Consider the first event, i.e., 20 percent increase in generic dispensing.
Expert judgment may show that this event has a 75 percent chance of occurring by 1997.
If this event does occur, it is expected that its first impact on the average price of a new
prescription will begin right away. The maximum impact, a 3 percent reduction in the
average price, will occur after five years. The combination of these events, probabilities,
and impacts with the baseline extrapolation leads to a forecast markedly different from
the baseline extrapolation. The curve even begins to taper off in the year 2005. The level
of uncertainty is indicated by quartiles above and below the mean forecast. At this
juncture, it is desirable to determine the sensitivity of these results to the individual
estimates upon which they are based. For example, one might raise valid questions about
the estimates of event probability, the magnitude of the impacts used, and the lag time
associated with these impacts.

Having prepared these data in a disaggregated fashion, one can very easily vary such
estimates and view the change in results. It may also be observed that intervention
policies, whether they are institutional (such as lobbying, advertising, or new marketing
approaches) or technological (such as increased research and development expenditures),
can be viewed as a means of influencing event probabilities or impacts. TIA can be used
not only to improve forecasts of time series variables but also to study the sensitivity of
these forecasts to policy. Of course, any policy under consideration should attempt to
influence as many events as possible rather than one, as in this example. Corporate
actions often have both beneficial and detrimental effects because they may increase both
desirable and undesirable possibilities. The use of TIA can make such uncertainties more
clearly visible than can traditional methods.