Advantages And Disadvantage Of Financial Ratio Analysis In Business

Financial ratio analysis is a valuable tool that allows one to assess the success, potential failure or future prospects of the company (Bazley 2012). The ratios are helpful in spotting useful trends that can indicate the warning signs of

Ratio analysis is the method used to calculate and interpret financial ratios to analyze and monitor the firm’s performance.

To analysis financial statements there are various tools. Ratio analysis is one of them. In ratio analysis we establish relationship between two or more items of financial statements and derive some vital information about the business.

Ratio analysis are useful tools when judging the performance of a company by weighing and evaluating the operating performance (Block-Hirt). There are 13 significant ratios that can separate by four main categories,

Ratios are highly important profit tools in financial analysis that help financial analysts implement plans that improve profitability, liquidity, financial structure, reordering, leverage, and interest coverage. Although ratios report mostly on past performances, they can be predictive too, and provide lead indications of potential problem areas. Financial ratios are important because they help investors make decisions to buy hold or sell securities.

Ratio analysis is a tool brought by individuals used to evaluate analysis of information in the financial statements of a business. The ratio analysis forms an essential part of the financial analysis which is a vital part in the business planning. There are 3 different ways of assessing businesses performance and these are: solvency, profitability and performance. Ratio analysis assists managers to work out the production of the company by figuring the profitability ratios. Also, the management can evaluate their revenues to check if their productivity. Thus, probability ratios are helpful to the company in evaluating its performance based on current earning. By measuring the solvency ratio, the companies are able to keep an

Ratio analysis shows the correlation within certain figures of financial statements, like current assets and current liability, and is used for three types of company needs- within, intra- and inter-company. Association can be shown in proportion, rate, or percentage and can evaluate company’s liquidity, profitability, and solvency. Liquidity ratios show company’s ability to pay obligations and fulfill needs for cash; profitability ratios show wellbeing and success for the certain time period; and solvency ratios show company’s endurance over the years.

The paper illustrates that financial ratio analysis is an important tool for firm’s to evaluate their financial health in order to identify areas of weakness so as to institute corrective measures.

Ratio analysis will be used to measure the profitability, liquidity and efficiency of the named business and to analyse the performance of the business using ratio analysis.

Financial ratios are great indicators to find a firm’s performance and financial situation. Most of the ratios are able to be calculated through the use of financial statements provided by the firm itself. They show the relationship between two or more financial variables that can be used to analyze trends and to compare the firm’s financials with other companies to further come up with market values or discount rates, etc.

Ratio analysis are useful tools when judging the performance of a company by weighing and evaluating the operating performance (Block-Hirt). There are 13 significant ratios that can separate by four main categories,

Aerts and Walton (2013) expressed ratio analysis as connection between two elements of financial statements. According to them, ratios analysis allows to compare the incomparable elements in different companies. In other words, we may say that comparing profit on its own between two companies would not give a reliable conclusion on organisations’ profitability. If would simply ignore profit relationship with other financial elements like cost of goods, which itself affects the proportion of profit. This is where ratio analysis becomes a useful instrument. It allows us to draw the link between two different sales figures and two different cost of goods figures and eventually makes results comparable between two organisations. Lasher (2014) added that ratios are only valuable as a tool when they are compared with the ratios of other companies. To make investment decisions easier, we will compare industry averages later in the report.

The calculation of ratios is the calculation technique for analyzing a company’s financial performance that divides or standardize one accounting measure by another economically relevant measure. Financial ratios can be used as a tool to demonstrate financial statement users for making valid comparisons of firm operating performance, over time for the same firm and between comparable companies. External investors are mostly interested in gaining insights about a firm’s profitability, asset management, liquidity, and solvency.

Firms and Companies include ‘Ratios’ in their external report to which it can be referred as ‘highlights’. Only with the help of ratios the financial statements are meaningful. It is therefore, not surprising that ratio analysis feature are prominently in the literature on financial management. According to Mcleary (1992) ratio means “an expression of a relationship between any two figures or groups of figures in the financial statements of an undertaking”.

Ratio analysis is generally used by the company to provide some information on how the company has performed during that year, so that the parties involved including shareholders, lenders, investors, government and other users could make some analysis before making any further decision towards that particular company. As mentioned by Gibson (1982a cited in British Accounting Review, 2002 pg. 290) where he believes that the use of ratio analysis is such an effective tool to evaluate the company’s finance, and to predict its future financial state. Ratios are simply divided in several categories; these are the profitability, liquidity, efficiency and gearing.