One quarterly filing may show three- and nine-month revenue, nine-month cash flows, and a cash balance on one date. Labelling every column “Q3” erases those differences. Your output is an extraction ledger separating document, account, start and end dates, flow or balance, standalone or cumulative, and reported or calculated status. The introductory quarterly guide explains the basic distinction.
1. Read each statement’s dates before building the ledger
| Source location | Read first | Do not assume |
|---|---|---|
| Income statement | Dates for the current interim period, year to date and comparisons | Every column is a standalone quarter because the report is quarterly |
| Cash-flow statement | Cumulative dates and operating, investing and financing classifications | The span matches the three-month income-statement column |
| Balance sheet | Closing date and comparative balance date | Balances can be added like sales occurring during a period |
The IAS 34 overview and publicly available paragraph 20 distinguish interim and cumulative income statements, cumulative cash flows and point-in-time balance sheets. The OpenDART guide also separates current three-month income-statement amounts from cumulative amounts in quarterly or half-year reports. Matching account names do not make those fields interchangeable.
2. Collect reported amounts before deriving a quarter
This fictional company has a December year-end. All amounts use millions of one currency. Assume identical consolidation scope, account definitions and accounting policies, with necessary revisions already incorporated. “Not provided” means absent from this exercise, not zero.
| Period | Revenue | Operating income | Operating cash | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-01-01–2024-06-30 | 147 | Not provided | Not provided | Six months cumulative |
| 2024-01-01–2024-09-30 | 234 | Not provided | Not provided | Nine months cumulative |
| 2024-01-01–2024-12-31 | 330 | Not provided | Not provided | Annual |
| 2025-01-01–2025-03-31 | 72 | Not provided | 9 | Three months |
| 2025-01-01–2025-06-30 | 164 | 16.4 | 25 | Six months cumulative |
| 2025-01-01–2025-09-30 | 267 | 26.7 | 20 | Nine months cumulative |
In your actual ledger add the filing date, source link, page, currency and scale. If a later comparative amount differs from the earlier file, reconcile the revision or restatement before subtracting. When standalone three-month revenue is directly reported, inspect that amount first and use cumulative subtraction as a cross-check.
3. Subtract comparable cumulative flows to check standalone quarters
| Calculated measure | Working | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 Q2 revenue | 164 − 72 | 92 |
| 2025 Q3 revenue | 267 − 164 | 103 |
| 2024 Q3 revenue | 234 − 147 | 87 |
| 2025 Q3 operating cash | 20 − 25 | -5 |
| 2025 Q3 operating income | 26.7 − 16.4 | 10.3 |
Q3 year-over-year revenue growth is (103 − 87) / 87, approximately 18.4%. Nine-month growth is (267 − 234) / 234, approximately 14.1%. Those answer different questions. Positive cumulative operating cash of 20 can coexist with standalone Q3 operating cash of −5. “Positive year-to-date operating cash means this quarter generated cash” is not supported by this table.
Label a derived quarter separately from a directly reported figure. If scope or revision differences remain unresolved, do not subtract through them and publish the answer as a confirmed quarterly result.
4. Do not subtract balances or ratios as if they were cumulative flows
Suppose fictional cash is 49 on June 30 and 58 on September 30. Its increase is 9. That is the change in a consistently defined cash balance, not a replacement for operating cash of −5. Read the source reconciliation for investing, financing, currency and other effects. Adding the balances to obtain 107 does not create nine-month cash flow.
Ratios require another check. Half-year operating margin is 16.4 / 164 = 10%; the nine-month margin is 26.7 / 267 = 10%. Subtracting them to report a Q3 margin of 0% is wrong. Subtract the numerators and denominators separately, then calculate 10.3 / 103 = 10%. Check standalone revenue of 103 and operating income of 10.3 in the margin calculator. Do not assume cumulative subtraction also works for earnings per share or weighted-average share counts.
5. Exclude the older period to build trailing twelve months
For revenue in the twelve months through September 2025, start with 2024 annual revenue of 330, remove January–September 2024 revenue of 234, then add January–September 2025 revenue of 267. 330 − 234 + 267 = 363, covering 2024-10-01–2025-09-30. Adding 330 and 267 to obtain 597 instead produces 21 months: it keeps the extra January–September 2024 period.
Use this construction for additive flows such as consistently defined revenue. Do not apply it directly to cash balances, ratios or figures with different consolidation scopes. The result reconstructs historical information; it is not a forecast of the coming year.
6. Locate the actual columns and retain a short result note
In Apple’s actual June 2025 10-Q, locate “Three Months Ended,” “Nine Months Ended,” and the cash-flow statement’s period heading. Apple’s fiscal calendar differs from the fictional calendar-year example. Retain the actual company’s dates. The Apple company page is a starting point for collected annual data and filings, not the source of the invented ledger.
Fictional result note: “On a consistent basis, reconstructed 2025 Q3 revenue is 103, approximately 18.4% above the prior-year quarter. I distinguished this from nine-month revenue growth of 14.1%. Q3 operating cash is −5, operating margin is 10%, and trailing-twelve-month revenue through September is 363. I retained the derived status and source documents; the cause of the cash difference remains unverified.” Complete the document and period checks and revision checks before retaining a note in this form.
Official sources checked: . Actual filings linked here illustrate presentation and structure; they are not the source of the fictional figures.