Months to Quarters Converter

What this converter does

This turns a number of months into quarters. A quarter is a block of three months, the unit businesses use to divide up the year for reporting and planning. Enter the months and the quarters come straight back.

How to use it

1. Enter Months. Type the number of months.

Press Calculate and the equivalent in quarters appears.

What a quarter is

A quarter is a quarter of a year, which works out to three months, so a year has four of them. In business they are usually labelled Q1 through Q4: the first quarter covers January to March, the second April to June, the third July to September, and the fourth October to December, though some organisations start their financial year in a different month. Companies report results, set targets, and review progress by the quarter, which is why converting a span of months into quarters is a common thing to want.

Why this one is exact

Unlike most conversions involving months, this one is exact. A quarter is defined as three months, full stop, so to convert months to quarters you simply divide by 3, with no averaging and no approximation. That is because you are not going through days here, where months vary in length, but staying in whole months, where the relationship is fixed. So 3 months is exactly 1 quarter, 6 months is 2, and 12 months is 4, every time.

An example

Take 6 months. Divide by 3 and you get exactly 2 quarters, half a business year. A single quarter is 3 months, 9 months is 3 quarters, and a full 12 months is 4 quarters. A leftover month shows as a third, so 4 months is about 1.33 quarters.

Questions people ask

How many months are in a quarter?

3. A quarter is a quarter of a year, so to convert months to quarters you divide by 3.

What months do the quarters cover?

Typically Q1 is January to March, Q2 April to June, Q3 July to September, and Q4 October to December, though some businesses begin their financial year in a different month.

Is this exact?

Yes. A quarter is exactly three months by definition, so the conversion involves no approximation, unlike turning months into days or weeks.

How do I go from quarters back to months?

Multiply the quarters by 3, or use a quarters-to-months converter.