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 ...

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

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 ...

Small businesses often estimate their inventory. If you operate your business on the basis of inaccurate inventory figures, however, you may experience stock outs -- running out of products when ...

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, ...