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A forecast revision that moves the other way

revision-direction-mismatchon by defaultJapanese / English

A forecast said to be revised up whose new figure is lower, or the reverse

Example

How to fix

Check whether the word of revision or the previous and revised figures are right, and correct the other. If the items move different ways, say so item by item ("we lower net sales and raise operating profit").

Why it matters

When a release says the forecast is "revised upward" and the table below it shows a revised figure lower than the previous one, readers cannot tell whether to believe the sentence or the table. It happens when last year's release is copied and only the figures are replaced, or when the columns are swapped. A table with a column of the previous forecast (Previous forecast) and one of the revised forecast (Revised forecast), or a row of each, is compared with the word of revision in the same section, from a heading to the next (revised upward, revised downward; raised, lowered and cut only with forecast, guidance or outlook in their sentence). When the sentence of the word names items (net sales, operating profit; "Operating profit (loss)" is named without its brackets too) those items are checked; when it names none, the first item of the table is.

What it does not flag

A section with words of both directions, a section with no word of revision, and a table without exactly one previous and one revised column (or row) are not compared. Named items that moved both ways (the word cannot be tied to one of them), a cell that is not a number ("-", "TBD"), cells written in different units and an unchanged figure are not reported. A sentence that names no item is checked against the first item of the table only; later items that move the other way are not reported.

Turning it off or relaxing it

This page is built from the rule's definition file:packages/chaff/rules/revision-direction-mismatch.yaml