The Meaning of YTD: What It Is and How To Use It

Have you heard the term YTD used in finance or business and wondered what it meant? This article will cover the meanings of YTD.

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The term YTD has several definitions, but what does it usually mean? This article will tell you all about the business meanings and alternate definitions of YTD.

What Does YTD Stand For?

According to Investopedia, the abbreviation YTD stands for year to date. Year to date is a period that begins with the start of a business’s calendar year or fiscal year and ends with the current date. A company might use YTD to compare data between years, analyze business trends, or compare themselves to peers and competitors.

YTD does not always start on January 1. Some companies have fiscal years that begin on different dates. 

YTD can be used to compare earnings between years or competitors to show investors how their portfolios have grown. This can also help compare year to date returns (YTD returns) to other assets like a bond portfolio or a bond fund. Make sure to factor in the allocation of dividends when calculating your gains.

When looking at business trends, it can be interesting to compare the current value of a stock to its value on the first day of the year. Business owners and investors may find it useful to compare the amount of profit from year to year or month to month. Some stocks may go up, and others may go down, which is why it is important to have a diversified portfolio.

YTD for Employees and Freelancers

YTD can also show employees the amount of money they have brought in during a pay period if they work on commission. Employee earnings can affect company costs, sales figures, stock returns, share price, social security benefits, medicare, and more.

If someone is a freelancer or independent contractor, looking at YTD earnings can help them make their income tax payments by comparing their income from the first day of the year to a specified date so that they can make quarterly tax payments. Tax payments are due in March, June, September, and December to the federal government and state government.

Knowing your YTD income can help you reach your financial goals. You can use the following formula known as the YTD formula for YTD calculations. The formula is year to date = (Specified date value / Start of a specified date value) – 1. 

Using this formula, you can compare your gross income, net pay, or annual income from year to year, as well as month to month, such as from August to October.

What Are Translations of YTD?

If you are talking about business or finance in another language, you can use these translations of year to date from Nice Translator to help you communicate.

  • German: der bisherige Jahresverlauf
  • Bengali: বছরের শুরু থেকে আজকের দিন
  • Italian: da inizio anno
  • Swedish: år till datum
  • Amharic: እስከዛሬ ድረስ
  • Filipino: Taon hanggang ngayon
  • Hungarian: Évente
  • Ukrainian: рік
  • Vietnamese: Năm đến nay
  • Icelandic: ár hingað til
  • Korean: 올해 초부터 현재까지
  • Swahili: mwaka hadi sasa.
  • Slovak: Doteraz
  • Dutch: jaar tot op heden
  • Portuguese (Portugal): no acumulado do ano
  • Malayalam: വർഷാരംഭം മുതൽ ഇന്ന് വരെ
  • Turkish: sene başından beri
  • Portuguese (Brazil): no acumulado do ano
  • Finnish: päivälleen vuosi
  • Polish: rok do tej pory
  • Greek: Έτος μέχρι σήμερα
  • Telugu: సంవత్సరానికి సంవత్సరం
  • Bulgarian: година до момента
  • Catalan: Any fins a la data
  • Indonesian: sejauh tahun ini
  • Hindi: साल से दिन
  • Spanish: El año hasta la fecha
  • Norwegian: År til dags dato
  • Estonian: Aasta seni
  • Czech: Dosud
  • Malay: tahun ke tarikh
  • Arabic: منذ بدلية العام ز حتى اليوم
  • Latvian: līdz šim
  • Serbian: године до данас
  • Russian: с начала года
  • Japanese: 年初来
  • Gujarati: સાલ થી તારીખ
  • Welsh: Blwyddyn i’r dyddiad
  • Slovenian: leto
  • Kannada: ಇಲ್ಲಿಯವರೆಗೆ ವರ್ಷ
  • Marathi: तारीख वर्ष
  • Romanian: de la începutul anului
  • Chinese (PRC): 今年迄今为止
  • Urdu: تاریخ تاریخ
  • Basque: Urtea orain arte
  • Tamil: வருடம் முதல் நாள் வரை
  • Chinese (Taiwan): 今年迄今為止
  • Hebrew: מתחילת השנה ועד היום
  • Lithuanian: iki šiol
  • Croatian: godine
  • French: année à ce jour
  • Thai: ปีถึงวัน
  • Danish: år til dato

What Are Other Meanings of YTD? 

According to The Free Dictionary, YTD has a couple of alternate meanings. If you are in the business or finance world, it is very likely that YTD will stand for year to date. However, if you are in a circumstance where the definition year to date might not make sense, YTD can stand for one of these alternate definitions.

First, YTD can be an abbreviation of yesterday. This is not a very common slang term, but you might see it used on a social networking site with character limits, such as Twitter.

YTD can also be the code for an airport in Thicket Portage, Manitoba, Canada. If you are in the aviation industry, this is likely what YTD would mean. If you are not in the aviation industry but are talking about flights, they may be referencing the aforementioned airport.

Finally, YTD can also stand for youthful tendency disorder. This is a fake illness that was made up by the satirical website The Onion to make a commentary on the prevalence of ADHD diagnoses that occur in young children, especially boys. The satirist argues that many of these diagnoses are simply the behaviors of all children and not a disorder like ADD or ADHD.

Conclusion

YTD stands for year to date. This term is used in the business and finance sectors, but it may have alternate meanings in other industries. Have you heard the abbreviation YTD recently?

Sources:

  1. YTD – What does YTD stand for? | The Free Dictionary 
  2. Year to Date (YTD) Definition | Investopedia 
  3. Year to Date | Nice Translator