Swot Analysis : Corporate Finance And Strategy

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 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.

I work as a Credit Representative for Graco Inc, a Minneapolis based company. Graco Inc is a manufacturing company provider of premium pumps and spray equipment for fluid handling in construction, manufacturing, processing and maintenance industries. As a Credit Representative, we handle both the Credit and Collection functions. In Credit, customers are evaluated on their credit history based on financial statements, credit reports and trade references to determine the financial risk. Our goal is to support sales by extending credit and terms to customers. On the other hand, as Collectors, we perform collection efforts to ensure accounts are paid on time and resolve any outstanding balances. Customers whom tends to struggle on payments and pay late on their bills, our leverage is to hold orders to collect debt.

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 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.

Kellogg’s is highly a profile company which is hugely known not only in the UK but in the world at large. It is one of the largest breakfast companies in the word, not only that but it is also financially it is a stably and well organised company. Kellogg’s profits have been stable if not increasing for the better from what it was 5 years ago.

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.

This paper deals with the question of how a ratio analysis can help in determining the true value of a company. Therefore a critical ratio analysis of Morrisons, a supermarket which is listed on the London Stock Exchange will be done and then compared with the William Jackson Food Group, another supermarket but a private company in order to figure out if there are any differences or similarities which can help to measure the performance of the companies. At least recommendations of the usefulness of this research will be given

Ratio analysis is a useful tool for analyzing financial statements. Calculating ratios will aid in understanding the company’s strategy and in understanding its strengths and weaknesses relative to other companies and over time. They can sometimes be useful in identifying earnings management and in understanding the effect of accounting choices on the firm’s reported profitability and growth. Finally, the ratios help in obtaining a better understanding of a firm’s current profitability, growth, and risk which can improve forecasts of future profitability and growth and estimates of the cost of capital.

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.

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.

SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (Ferrell and Hartline, 2014, p. 39). A SWOT analysis evaluates both the internal factors (strengths and weaknesses) and external factors (opportunities and threats) that create advantages and disadvantages to a company when serving its customers (p. 39). A SWOT analysis is extremely beneficial in helping a company determine areas of improvement (p. 39). Internal factors examine the actual company being analyzed while external factors examine the external market (customers and competition) (p. 85).

Amongst all the novelties, trends, and fashions appearing in the field of strategic management during the last decades, the SWOT analysis, standing for: strengths, weaknesses opportunities, and threats has enjoyed a long lasting popularity among both practitioners and researchers. The purpose of this essay is to demonstrate that SWOT analysis can be used for both businesses and individuals.