Financial ratios can be classified according to the information they provide. The following types of ratios frequently are used:
Liquidity ratios
Asset turnover ratios
Financial leverage ratios
Profitability ratios
Dividend policy ratios
Liquidity Ratios
Liquidity ratios provide information about a firm's ability to meet its short-term financial obligations. They are of particular interest to those extending short-term credit to the firm. Two frequently-used liquidity ratios are the current ratio (or working capital ratio) and the quick ratio.
The current ratio is the ratio of current assets to current liabilities:
Current Ratio = Current Assets/Current Liabilities
Short-term creditors prefer a high current ratio since it reduces their risk. Shareholders may prefer a lower current ratio so that more of the firm's assets are working to grow the business. Typical values for the current ratio vary by firm and industry. For example, firms in cyclical industries may maintain a higher current ratio in order to remain solvent during downturns.
One drawback of the current ratio is that inventory may include many items that are difficult to liquidate quickly and that have uncertain liquidation values. The quick ratio is an alternative measure of liquidity that does not include inventory in the current assets. The quick ratio is defined as follows:
Quick Ratio = (Current Assets - Inventory)/Current Liabilities
The current assets used in the quick ratio are cash, accounts receivable, and notes receivable. These assets essentially are current assets less inventory. The quick ratio often is referred to as the acid test.
Finally, the cash ratio is the most conservative liquidity ratio. It excludes all current assets except the most liquid: cash and cash equivalents. The cash ratio is defined as follows:
Cash Ratio = (Cash + Marketable Securities)/Current Liabilities
The cash ratio is an indication of the firm's ability to pay off its current liabilities if for some reason immediate payment were demanded.
Asset Turnover Ratios
Asset turnover ratios indicate of how efficiently the firm utilizes its assets. They sometimes are referred to as efficiency ratios, asset utilization ratios, or asset management ratios. Two commonly used asset turnover ratios are receivables turnover and inventory turnover.
Receivables turnover is an indication of how quickly the firm collects its accounts receivables and is defined as follows:
Receivables Turnover = Annual Credit Sales/Accounts Receivable
The receivables turnover often is reported in terms of the number of days that credit sales remain in accounts receivable before they are collected. This number is known as the collection period. It is the accounts receivable balance divided by the average daily credit sales, calculated as follows:
Average Collection Period = Accounts Receivable/Annual Credit Sales / 365
The collection period also can be written as:
Average Collection Period = 365/Receivables Turnover
Another major asset turnover ratio is inventory turnover. It is the cost of goods sold in a time period divided by the average inventory level during that period:
Inventory Turnover = Cost of Goods Sold/Average Inventory
The inventory turnover often is reported as the inventory period, which is the number of days worth of inventory on hand, calculated by dividing the inventory by the average daily cost of goods sold:
Inventory Period = Average Inventory/Annual Cost of Goods Sold / 365
The inventory period also can be written as:
Inventory Period = 365/Inventory Turnover
Other asset turnover ratios include fixed asset turnover and total asset turnover.
Financial Leverage Ratios
Financial leverage ratios provide an indication of the long-term solvency of the firm. Unlike liquidity ratios that are concerned with short-term assets and liabilities, financial leverage ratios measure the extent to which the firm is using long term debt.
The debt ratio is defined as total debt divided by total assets:
Debt Ratio = Total Debt/Total Assets
The debt-to-equity ratio is total debt divided by total equity:
Debt-to-Equity Ratio = Total Debt/Total Equity
Debt ratios depend on the classification of long-term leases and on the classification of some items as long-term debt or equity.
The times interest earned ratio indicates how well the firm's earnings can cover the interest payments on its debt. This ratio also is known as the interest coverage and is calculated as follows:
Interest Coverage = EBIT/Interest Charges
where EBIT = Earnings Before Interest and Taxes
Profitability Ratios
Profitability ratios offer several different measures of the success of the firm at generating profits.
The gross profit margin is a measure of the gross profit earned on sales. The gross profit margin considers the firm's cost of goods sold, but does not include other costs. It is defined as follows:
Gross Profit Margin = (Sales - Cost of Goods Sold)/Sales
Return on assets is a measure of how effectively the firm's assets are being used to generate profits. It is defined as:
Return on Assets = Net Income/Total Assets
Return on equity is the bottom line measure for the shareholders, measuring the profits earned for each dollar invested in the firm's stock. Return on equity is defined as follows:
Return on Equity = Net Income/Shareholder Equity
Dividend Policy Ratios
Dividend policy ratios provide insight into the dividend policy of the firm and the prospects for future growth. Two commonly used ratios are the dividend yield and payout ratio.
The dividend yield is defined as follows:
Dividend Yield = Dividends Per Share/Share Price
A high dividend yield does not necessarily translate into a high future rate of return. It is important to consider the prospects for continuing and increasing the dividend in the future. The dividend payout ratio is helpful in this regard, and is defined as follows:
Payout Ratio = Dividends Per Share/Earnings Per Share
financial ratios
Describe the four approaches to using financial ratios?
There are many different financial ratios used as the indicators and they are differently use based on the purpose of what areas, or risks that the appraiser concern about. Financial Ratios are the useful tool to measure that company performance financially; however, the Key Financial Performance Indicators turn to be less popular or they can not use alone to measure how success the entity is. We will talk in detail below why Financial Ratios is less popular in the Current Strategic Performance Appraisal. financial-ratios.info
Leverage Financial Ratios Those financial ratios that show the percentage of a company's capital structure that is made up on debt or liabilities owed to external parties Liquidity Financial Ratios Those financial ratios that show the solvency of a company based on its assets versus its liabilities. In other words, it lets you know the resources available for a firm to use in order to pay its bills, keep the lights on, and pay the staff. Operating Financial Ratios These financial ratios show the efficiency of management and a company's operations in utilizing its capital. In the retail industry, this would include metrics such as inventory turnover,accounts receivable turnover, etc. Profitability Financial Ratios These financial ratios measure the return earned on a company's capital and the financial cushion relative to each dollar of sales. A firm that has high gross profit margins, for instance, is going to be much harder to put out of business when the economy turns down than one that has razor-thin margins. Likewise, a company with high returns on capital, even with smaller margins, is going to have a better chance of survival because it is so much more profitable relative to the shareholders' contributed investment. Solvency Financial Ratios These financial ratios tell you the chances of a company going bankrupt. There's really no elegant way to say that. The whole point of calculating them is to make sure that a company isn't in danger of going under anytime soon.
Liquidity, Profitability, Leverage, and Activity/Efficiency
financial ratios
Balance sheet and income statement
Describe the four approaches to using financial ratios?
25
There are many different financial ratios used as the indicators and they are differently use based on the purpose of what areas, or risks that the appraiser concern about. Financial Ratios are the useful tool to measure that company performance financially; however, the Key Financial Performance Indicators turn to be less popular or they can not use alone to measure how success the entity is. We will talk in detail below why Financial Ratios is less popular in the Current Strategic Performance Appraisal. financial-ratios.info
In financial analysis the analyst compute financial ratios to determine the financial health of an financial institutoin rather than simply studying raw financial data.
composite ratios are those which are compared between atleast two financial statements .
Investors look at financial ratios to understand how businesses are performing. They use this information to determine whether they would like to invest or not.
Investors look at financial ratios to understand how businesses are performing. They use this information to determine whether they would like to invest or not.
Analyzing financial ratios
financial ratios
Financial ratios of all company's can be calculated based on their financial statements that would be declared during their quarterly result announcement. Balance Sheet, Income Statement, Statement of Cashflows, Statement of Earnings etc are some of the documents from which the information required for calculating these financial ratios can be picked up. Also, if the company is listed in the stock market, its current stock price too is used for calculating some of these ratios.