ACCA Applied Knowledge · Management Accounting · Presenting information
A company reports the following sales ($000): Q1 120, Q2 150, Q3 180, Q4 210. A manager wants a chart showing each quarter's sales, the cumulative sales and the moving annual total on one graph, so that the underlying trend is visible. Which chart is designed for this?
A Z chart is designed for this. It combines the period results, the cumulative total and the moving annual total on one graph, making the trend visible. Pie charts and component bars show composition and histograms show frequency, so they cannot show all three series over time.
- APie chart
- BZ chartCorrect
- CComponent bar chart
- DHistogram
Explanation
A Z chart plots monthly or quarterly figures, the cumulative total and the moving annual total on one graph, forming a Z shape. Cumulative sales here reach 120, 270, 450, 660. A pie chart or component bar chart shows composition, and a histogram shows frequency distributions.
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