In Excel or Google Sheets, compound monthly growth rate for a whole period is (B7/B2)^(1/(ROWS(B2:B7)-1))-1, where each SUM covers one column of monthly figures. On the sample data it returns 5.91%.
CMGR = (Last month ÷ First month)^(1 ÷ Number of months between them) − 1
What you need
Compound monthly growth rate (CMGR) is the steady monthly growth rate that would take you from the first month's value to the last month's value. You need these columns, here from the sample file monthly.csv:
- Revenue (net of discounts): column B (revenue)
Step by step
- Download monthly.csv below and open it: in Excel use File → Open; in Google Sheets use File → Import → Upload. The headers land in row 1 and the six months in rows 2 to 7.
- Click any empty cell and enter =(B7/B2)^(1/(ROWS(B2:B7)-1))-1 for the whole six months. It adds up each column first and then does the arithmetic once, which is the correct way to combine months.
- For each month, click AQ3, enter =(B3/B$2)^(1/(ROW()-2))-1 and drag the fill handle down to row 7.
- Format the results as a percentage (Home → %, or Format → Number → Percent in Sheets). The formula returns a fraction such as 0.45, which the format shows as 45%.
- If a month can have zero in the denominator, wrap the formula so it shows a blank instead of #DIV/0!: =IFERROR((B3/B$2)^(1/(ROW()-2))-1,"").
The formulas
=(B7/B2)^(1/(ROWS(B2:B7)-1))-1=(B3/B$2)^(1/(ROW()-2))-1What you should get
Run against the sample data, the code above returns these values:
| Month | revenue | cmgr |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-01 | 4,12,000 | — |
| 2026-02 | 4,38,500 | 6.43% |
| 2026-03 | 4,71,200 | 6.94% |
| 2026-04 | 4,55,800 | 3.43% |
| 2026-05 | 5,02,300 | 5.08% |
| 2026-06 | 5,48,900 | 5.91% |
| Whole period | 5.91% |
(₹5,48,900 ÷ ₹4,12,000)^(1 ÷ 5) − 1 = 5.91%
Notes for Excel
- Google Sheets accepts the same formulas. If your spreadsheet locale uses a comma as the decimal separator, Sheets and Excel expect semicolons between function arguments instead of commas.
- Averaging the monthly results with AVERAGE() gives a different and usually wrong answer for the period, because every month counts the same however large it was.
- Excel tables (Insert → Table) let you write the same formula with column names instead of letters, which is easier to read and survives inserted columns.
Where compound monthly growth rate misleads
- Only the first and last values matter. A great first month or a weak last month changes the answer a lot.
- Use full months at both ends; a partial month at the end makes growth look worse.
- To compare with a yearly figure, (1 + CMGR)^12 − 1 gives the annualised rate.
The full explanation, with a calculator, is on the Compound monthly growth rate (CMGR) page.
Same metric, other tools
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About the data on this page
The figures come from a small made-up dataset, printed above in full so you can check every number by hand. Download it as monthly.csv. The results are computed from those rows when the page is built, and the Excel formulas, SQL and Python on these pages are run against the same rows before publishing, so the code and the answers agree.
To get these numbers from your own data without writing formulas, try AnalyzeIt: ask in plain words and it shows the working behind every figure.
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