Like-for-like

Formal

The terminology for comparing apples with apples in the financial world. Comparing year on year financial performance means that data must be truly comparable. Data that distorts true comparison is eliminated or introduced in order to facilitate easy comparison of underlying performance.

Real-world Example

A retail chain reports like-for-like sales up 3% - comparing revenue from stores open in both periods, so the figure isn't skewed by newly opened or closed locations.