How to Calculate the Decline in Sales by Percent for the Number of Years in Excel

by C. Taylor
Graphs in Excel make for effective visual presentations.

Graphs in Excel make for effective visual presentations.

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When calculating a declining sales figure spanning multiple years, you need to calculate two percentages. The straight-line method calculates your overall decline, but this doesn't paint the entire picture. By calculating an annualized decline, you can see how sales have decreased per year on average. This facilitates comparisons between other calculations, because the figures span the same annual time frame. Microsoft Excel allows you to set up a formula without having to manually crunch the numbers.


Open Excel. Enter the start and end years in cells B1 and C1, respectively. As an example, enter "2008" and "2011."


Enter "Decline" and "Annualized Decline" in cells D1 and E1. Enter "Sales" in cell A2.


Input the starting and ending sales figures in cells B2 and C2, respectively. For example, input "$300,000" and "$200,000." If the first number is larger, then you are experiencing a decline in sales.


Click and drag your cursor through cells D2 and E2. Right-click the selected cells and choose "Format Cells." Click "Percentage" and select "OK." This formats the cells as percentages, so when you enter your formulas, the output will be properly formatted.


Enter "=(C2-B2)/B2" in cell D2 to calculate the straight-line decline percentage.


Type "=POWER(C2/B2,1/(C1-B1))-1" into cell E2 to calculate the annualized sales decline.

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