2. Align periods before comparing numbers

Separate flows over an interval from stocks at a date. Revenue and expense cover time. Cash and debt describe a reporting date. Adding four quarterly revenues can form a year if the intervals are complete, adjacent and nonoverlapping. Adding four quarter-end cash balances has no useful annual-cash meaning.

A year-to-date figure is cumulative. If first-half revenue is 660 and Q1 revenue is 310, standalone Q2 revenue is 350. Adding 310 and 660 would count Q1 twice. Check the start date even when the column heading merely says “Q2”. Cash-flow statements often use cumulative periods.

For a December year-end, H1 2025 means January 1 through June 30, 2025. A June year-end company's FY2025 can mean July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025. Store both dates and the issuer's fiscal-year label. Do not relabel a fiscal year as a calendar year. A 52/53-week retailer also needs the week count; a longer year can inflate apparent growth.

Try it. Alder has Q1 revenue 310 and H1 revenue 660. Calculate Q2 and the H1 control. Then explain whether H1 revenue 750 is a full-year forecast of 1,500.

Worked answer. Q2 is 660 − 310 = 350. Q1 plus Q2 returns 660. Multiplying H1 by two is an annualized run rate based on an assumption of equal halves, not an observed year or an LTM calculation. Seasonality, acquisitions and changes in scope may make that assumption poor.

Transfer check. A new acquisition enters consolidation in April. Aligned dates alone do not establish organic growth. Identify the scope change separately; do not invent a pro forma comparison without supported acquisition-period information.