How to Determine the First Day of a Quarter in Excel with MarketXLS

The FirstDayInQuarter function takes a quarter number (1 to 4) and a year, then returns the date for the first day of that specified “quarter.” This is especially useful when managing time-based analysis such as quarterly earnings, dividend payments, or other trading and investing activities.

Note: Based on the current implementation, QuarterValue is multiplied by 3 and then 1 is added to the result. Be aware that for QuarterValue=4, the resulting month is 13, which VBA’s DateSerial interprets as January of the subsequent year. This is part of the function’s native handling rather than an error.

Why Use This Function?

• Easily slice financial data into quarters.
• Automate or schedule calculations based on the start of specific quarters.
• Integrate with MarketXLS real-time market data for quarterly performance, returns, or price changes.
• Reduce manual date entry errors when analyzing quarterly trends.
• Beneficial for sectors reporting earnings on a quarterly basis (e.g., US stocks).

How to Use in Excel

=FirstDayInQuarter(QuarterValue, YearValue)

1. In your Excel sheet, go to a cell where you want the first day of a quarter to appear.
2. Type in the function as shown above, replacing “QuarterValue” with an integer (1 through 4) and “YearValue” with any valid year (e.g., 2023).
3. Press Enter to get the resulting date.

MarketXLS will interpret the QuarterValue, multiply it by 3, then add 1 to determine which month is used in the date. The day is always set to 1 by default, indicating the first day of the computed month.

Parameters Explained

Example Usage

Basic Examples

1. =FirstDayInQuarter(1, 2023)
   • Formula logic: QuarterValue=1 ? 1×3=3 ? 3+1=4 ? April 1, 2023
   • Returned Date: 4/1/2023

2. =FirstDayInQuarter(2, 2023)
   • Formula logic: QuarterValue=2 ? 2×3=6 ? 6+1=7 ? July 1, 2023
   • Returned Date: 7/1/2023

3. =FirstDayInQuarter(3, 2023)
   • Formula logic: QuarterValue=3 ? 3×3=9 ? 9+1=10 ? October 1, 2023
   • Returned Date: 10/1/2023

4. =FirstDayInQuarter(4, 2023)
   • Formula logic: QuarterValue=4 ? 4×3=12 ? 12+1=13 ? Interpreted as January of the next year
   • Returned Date: 1/1/2024

Advanced Scenarios

• Quarterly Portfolio Review: Combine FirstDayInQuarter with MarketXLS functions that fetch historical stock prices on the returned date. For example, fetch the “Close” price on these quarterly start dates to measure performance or adjust positions.

• Integrating with Other Date Functions:

• Use Excel’s EOMONTH or other built-in date functions to find the end of the same quarter, then calculate the number of trading days between the start and end of that quarter.

• Trading Strategy Example:

• Some investors prefer to rebalance portfolios on the first day of each quarter. Use FirstDayInQuarter(QuarterValue, YearValue) to schedule automated rebalancing or to pull fresh data from MarketXLS for updated watchlists or pivot tables.

Common Questions and Troubleshooting

• “Why do I get April 1 for QuarterValue=1?”
The function specifically multiplies QuarterValue by three and then increments by one for the month. Therefore, QuarterValue=1 results in the 4th month (April).

• “What happens if I use QuarterValue=4?”
QuarterValue=4 translates to month 13, which DateSerial interprets as January of the following year. This is by design in VB/VBA handling.

• “Are negative or zero QuarterValue inputs allowed?”
The current function does not explicitly handle negative or zero quarters. Passing unexpected values can produce unusual dates or errors, so ensure QuarterValue is 1 through 4.

• “How can I find the last day of a specific quarter?”
You could pair this function with EOMONTH in Excel. For example: =EOMONTH( FirstDayInQuarter(QuarterValue, YearValue), 2 )
This formula adds two months to the first day of the quarter, returning the last calendar day of that quarter.

By using FirstDayInQuarter, you’ll eliminate manual overhead, ensure clarity in your date-driven calculations, and better integrate MarketXLS data for real-time quarter-based analytics.