Variance in margin percents - formula applying to all +/- percents

[anotherera]

Hi,
First post as this is the first time I cannot find a solution to an excel query.
I am creating a margin report covering many years and attempting to show variance between margin percentages. As this included both positive and negative margins I am unable to locate a single formula which applies to all possible combinations. In essence, I am trying to add a single formula in MANY cells showing the variance without editing if, for example, one year has positive margin and the other negative.
So far I know:
=(A1-B1)/B1 works for +/+
=(A1-B1/ABS(B1) works for -/-
But I am unsure what to use for +/- and more so what formula can be used which works for ALL of the possibilities.
Any ideas?

 

[offthelip]

you could try :

=SQRT((A1-B1)*(A1-B1)/(B1*B1))

which will always gvie you a positive result

 

[anotherera]

@offthelip Many thanks for the input. Likely due to my poor explanation I am looking for a solution which shows both positive and negative results depending on the data. For example:
-2021 sales 715 units
-2020 sales 758 units
-Should show negative % result

-2019 sales 1000 units
-2018 sales 500 units
-Should show positive % result

Forgive me if this is obvious, but for something so seemingly simple I cannot find a solution. But there must be one.

 

[offthelip]

your equation:

=(A1-B1/ABS(B1)

will work for the examples you have give

 

[anotherera]

My mistake, I was asking about examples I already solved using the same tactic you laid out. The ones giving me issues are these.

Year to Date		% Increase on 2015	% Increase on 2016	% increase on 2017	% increase on 2018	% increase on 2019	% increase on 2020
-8,3%		#DIV/0!​	-108%​	-2908%​	-376%​	-277%​	32%​
4,2%		#DIV/0!​	-96%​	1609%​	38%​	-11%​	134%​
-12,2%		#DIV/0!​	-112%​	#DIV/0!​	-563%​	4324%​
4,7%		#DIV/0!​	-95%​	-1797%​	56%​
3,0%		#DIV/0!​	-97%​	-1191%​
-0,3%		#DIV/0!​	-100%​
2,6%		#DIV/0!​
0,0%

The issue is when trying to use a single formula to find the % change between "Year to date" values. So a single formula which can take +/+, +/-, -/+, and -/- percentages and show the change. Any ideas?

(Apologies for asking the wrong question before)