In-Class Activity (ICA): Financial Performance Waterfall Chart

Scenario:

You are an analyst at a small software company, and you're tasked with understanding how the company's revenue has changed over the last quarter. You are provided with the following financial data and are required to visualize it using a waterfall chart:

Data:

Initial Revenue at Start of Quarter: $120,000

New Subscriptions Revenue: $30,000

Lost Subscriptions Revenue: -$10,000

Service Fees Revenue: $5,000

Software Updates Revenue: $10,000

Operating Costs: -$40,000

Taxes: -$15,000

Steps:

Create an Excel Sheet or Open Google Sheets: Label the columns as "Item" and "Amount".

Input the Data: Enter the data points in order.

Create the Waterfall Chart: Follow the steps to create a waterfall chart in your chosen software.

Expected Output:

Your waterfall chart should have the following characteristics:

Initial Bar: Starts at $120,000, representing the initial revenue at the start of the quarter.

Intermediate Bars:

Ascend by $30,000 for New Subscriptions.

Descend by $10,000 for Lost Subscriptions.

Ascend by $5,000 for Service Fees.

Ascend by $10,000 for Software Updates.

Descend by $40,000 for Operating Costs.

Descend by $15,000 for Taxes.

Final Bar: Should represent the final net revenue for the quarter.

Color Coding:

Positive values (like new subscriptions, service fees, software updates) can be green.

Negative values (like lost subscriptions, operating costs, taxes) can be red.

Initial and final values can be blue (optional)

ICA: Build Waterfall Chart