Based on past data, your firm’s sales show a seasonal pattern. The seasonal index for November is 1.08, for December it is 1.38, and for January it is 0.84. Sales for November were $285,167.
a. Would you ordinarily expect an increase in sales from November to December in a typical year? How do you know?
b.* Find November’s sales, on a seasonally adjusted basis.
c.* Take the seasonally adjusted November figure and seasonalize it using the December index to find the expected sales level for December.
d. Sales for December have just been reported as $430,106. Is this higher or lower than expected, based on November’s sales?
e. Find December’s sales, on a seasonally adjusted basis.
f. Were sales up or down from November to December, on a seasonally adjusted basis? What does this tell you?
g. Using the same method as in part c, find the expected level for January sales based on December’s sales.