Percent Increase Year over Year beginning with $0 budget

Amberko

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Jul 1, 2020
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Hi,
I need help figuring out what the percent increase/decrease is in a budget from last year to this year. Last year there was $0 budgeted for a program and this year $0.4 million is budgeted. I don’t know how to calculate percent change when there was zero dollars in the first year. Is this 4,000% increase? Any guidance you can provide would be greatly appreciated!
 
You just can't calculate a percent increase in this case. It's meaningless.

That's because any percent of zero is zero, so any percent increase leaves it at zero. Any answer you gave would be a lie!

If you need to put a percent increase in a report, the appropriate thing is just to put in a note that the old amount was zero.
 
Dr. Peterson is totally correct as a matter of mathematics. However, it may not satisfy the requirements of presentation that you are expected to conform to. What I have seen in similar situations is 100%, with the implication that the whole thing is increase. It is mathematically idiotic, but it seems to satisfy many people. What I think is best, however, is the abbreviation N.A.
 
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