Exhibit 11.8
The following questions use the data below.
Joe's Sporting Goods wants to forecast quarterly sales figures using Winter's method. The store has collected 12 quarters of data and needs your help to analyze the data.
-Refer to Exhibit 11.8. What formula should be entered in cell G3 to compute the seasonal factor for year 1 Quarter 1?
A) =D3/AVERAGE($D$3:$D$6)
B) =D3/AVERAGE($D$3:$D$14)
C) =D3/SUM($D$3:$D$6)
D) =D3/COUNTIF($D$3:$D$6)

Question

Exhibit 11.8
The following questions use the data below.
Joe's Sporting Goods wants to forecast quarterly sales figures using Winter's method. The store has collected 12 quarters of data and needs your help to analyze the data. 
-Refer to Exhibit 11.8. What formula should be entered in cell G3 to compute the seasonal factor for year 1 Quarter 1?
A) =D3/AVERAGE($D$3:$D$6) 
B) =D3/AVERAGE($D$3:$D$14) 
C) =D3/SUM($D$3:$D$6) 
D) =D3/COUNTIF($D$3:$D$6)

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

According to Winter's method, the seasonal factor for a particular quarter is calculated as the ratio of the observed value for that quarter to the average value of all the values for that particular quarter across all years. Therefore, in cell G3, the formula should be =D3/AVERAGE($D$3:$D$6) to compute the seasonal factor for year 1 Quarter 1. Option B uses the average of all quarters instead of just year 1 Quarter 1- this is incorrect. Option C takes the sum of all quarters, which does not consider seasonal variations but overall sales, so this is incorrect. Option D uses the CountIF function, which is not applicable in finding seasonal factors, so this is incorrect.

Exhibit 11.8 The Following Questions Use the Data Below