““There are two ways to handle this: Say, “Now that I’ve analyzed sales, I’d like to analyze costs next.” Say, “I can conclude that sales are not causing the profit problem, because first, sales have remained unchanged in the past year, and second, costs have gone up by $10 million and account for 100 percent of the problem. I would like to analyze costs now to understand better which costs have increased and why.” The synthesis in the second version is much better.””
