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How to Calculate Quarters in Excel: Formulas for Current, Next and Previous

Master Excel’s date functions to easily determine quarters for any date, streamlining your financial and project reporting.

By Shivamm 2 min read
How to Calculate Quarters in Excel: Formulas for Current, Next and Previous

Calculating quarters in Excel is essential for financial reporting, project management, and data analysis. This guide will show you how to use Excel functions like DATE and MOD to determine which quarter a date belongs to, as well as find the first day of the current, next, and previous quarters.

Determining the Current Quarter

To find the first day of the current quarter based on today’s date, use this formula:

=DATE(YEAR(TODAY()),MONTH(TODAY())-MOD(MONTH(TODAY())-1,3),1)

This formula works by:

  • Using TODAY() to get the current date
  • Extracting the year and month with YEAR() and MONTH()
  • Using MOD() to adjust the month to the start of the quarter
  • Combining these with DATE() to create the final date

To calculate the quarter for any date in cell B2, modify the formula slightly:

=DATE(YEAR(B2),MONTH(B2)-MOD(MONTH(B2)-1,3),1)

Finding the Next Quarter’s Start Date

To determine the first day of the next quarter, add 3 months to the current quarter formula:

=DATE(YEAR(TODAY()),MONTH(TODAY())-MOD(MONTH(TODAY())-1,3)+3,1)

Calculating the Previous Quarter’s Start Date

For the first day of the previous quarter, subtract 3 months instead:

=DATE(YEAR(TODAY()),MONTH(TODAY())-MOD(MONTH(TODAY())-1,3)-3,1)

Identifying the First Monday of the Current Quarter

If you need to find the first Monday of the current quarter (useful for some business calendars), use this more complex formula:

=DATE(YEAR(TODAY()),MONTH(TODAY())-MOD(MONTH(TODAY())-1,3),1)-WEEKDAY(DATE(YEAR(TODAY()),MONTH(TODAY())-MOD(MONTH(TODAY())-1,3),1)-2)+7

This formula calculates the first day of the quarter, then adjusts it to the next Monday if necessary.

Getting the Quarter Number

To simply return the quarter number (1, 2, 3, or 4) for any date, use the ROUNDUP function:

=ROUNDUP(MONTH(A2)/3,0)

This formula divides the month by 3 and rounds up to the nearest whole number, effectively grouping months into quarters.

Practical Applications

These formulas are particularly useful for:

  • Financial reporting that requires quarterly breakdowns
  • Project planning with quarterly milestones or deliverables
  • Sales analysis to compare performance across quarters
  • HR processes like quarterly reviews or goal-setting

Pro Tip: Combine these formulas with Excel’s conditional formatting to visually highlight dates or data by quarter, making your spreadsheets more intuitive and easier to analyze at a glance.

With these formulas in your Excel toolkit, you’ll be able to quickly segment and analyze data by quarters, improving your reporting and decision-making processes. Experiment with different combinations to suit your specific needs and streamline your workflow.