ACCA Applied Knowledge · Management Accounting · Spreadsheets
A spreadsheet table shows quarterly sales for four products with a row total in column F. An accountant wants a chart that shows both the total sales trend over four quarters and the contribution of each product to each quarter's total, with the chart total bars comparable across quarters. Which chart is best?
A stacked column chart with quarters along the axis and products as series is best. The overall bar height shows the quarterly total so trends can be compared, while the segments show each product's contribution. The other options either lose the product split or fail to compare totals.
- AStacked bar (column) chart with quarters on the horizontal axis and products as seriesCorrect
- BPie chart for each quarter, with different sizes chosen by eye
- CScatter diagram of product against quarter
- DSimple line graph of only the total column
Explanation
A stacked column chart gives bar heights equal to quarterly totals, so totals are comparable, while the segments show each product's contribution. Pie charts drawn by eye are not comparable in total, a scatter diagram suits correlation, and a total-only line loses the product breakdown.
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