This article was originally published on Built In by Eric Kleppen. Variance is a powerful statistic used in data analysis and machine learning. It is one of the four main measures of variability along ...

Daniel Jassy, CFA, is an Investopedia Academy instructor and the founder of SPYderCRusher Research. He contributes to Excel and Algorithmic Trading. David Kindness is a Certified Public Accountant ...

Stock's historical variance measures its return stability over time. Higher variance indicates greater return unpredictability and risk. Calculate variance using Excel to simplify the process for ...

Financial variance is the difference between budgeted and actual spending. Positive variance means spending less, negative indicates overspending. Regular monitoring reduces surprises and improves ...

Cost and schedule variance data are part of earned value analysis, which is a tool that small and large businesses use as an early-warning system to identify and manage problems in ongoing projects.

Claire Boyte-White is the lead writer for NapkinFinance.com, co-author of I Am Net Worthy, and an Investopedia contributor. Claire's expertise lies in corporate finance & accounting, mutual funds, ...

Even the best budgets rarely turn out exactly the way that planners expect. Whenever you're planning in advance for a period of time, you'll inevitably make some mistakes in your estimates, and it's ...

As a small-business leader, taking care of the bottom line is critical for growth, as well as for maintaining your current payroll and customers. Understanding sales price variance can help you ...

Gross profit is one of the most important measures of profitability in corporate finance. Gross profit is total revenue minus the cost of goods sold (COGS). Because this metric only takes into account ...