In business and accounting, financial and industry ratios are commonly applied to measure the operating efficiency and profitability of a company. There are hundreds of possible relationships that can be computed. For a more complete explanation of ratios and financial statement analysis, consult the following sources:
- Financial Ratios: General information on ratios (University of Bristol)
- Financial Ratio Analysis (Financial Pipeline)
- Principles of Financial Statements, Analysis. Chapter 4 of Accounting Desk Book: The Accountant's Everyday Instant Answer Book, 10th edition by Tom M. Plank. Paramus, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1995. Reference HF5635.P53 1995.
The best library resources for finding financial ratios, company profiles, and industry data are:
- D&B Key Business Ratios. (online database).
-
The RMA Annual Statement Studies
. Philadelphia: Risk Management Association, 1981- .
( print resource available in the Library's Reference Collection. Call number: Reference HF5681.B2 R6 2000/01 )
-
Almanac
of Business and Industrial Financial Ratios. Paramus,
N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1987- .
(print resource available at the Library's Reference Collection)
- Financial Studies of the Small Business.
25th edition. Winterhaven, Fl.:
Financial Research Associaties, 2002.
(print resource available in the Library's Reference Collection. Call number: Reference HD2346.U5F55 25th 2002)
-
Business & Company
Resource Center.
GaleGroup. (online database)
- North American Industrial Classification System. United States. Bureau of the Census. (website)
D&B Key Business Ratios is compiled from the Dun & Bradstreet Financial Information Database , consisting of financial statements of U.S. Corporations, partnerships, and proprietorships. The 14 key business ratios in the Key Business Ratios database cover all critical areas of business performance - solvency, efficiency and profitability. Ratios are arranged by SIC Codes.
The RMA Annual Statement Studies is compiled from more than 150,000 statements of commercial bank borrowers and prospects. These financial statements come directly to Risk Management Association (RMA) from member institutions, who get their data straight from the customer. Most customers are, according to the RMA, small and medium size businesses. The data is presented by SIC (Standard Industrial Classification Code), with more recent volumes providing access via the NAICS. The Annual Statement Studies have been published for more than 80 years, making timeline analysis possible. The VC/UHV Library's Annual Statement Studies collection begins in 1981 and is current.
Almanac of Business and Industrial Financial Ratios is compiled from the tax returns, C and S, filed with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. It covers approximately 4.7 milllion active corporate federal income tax returns, including those owned by foreign persons. According to the publisher, IRS data are the only publicly available financial information on all active corporations. Other sources cover large or publicly held corporations. Data is presented in 13 categories following the ESIC, Enterprise Standard Industrial Classification. The VC/UHV Library has the almanac from 1987 up to the current edition.
Financial Studies of the Small Business provides industry ratios on small business. Using as a criteria total capitalization under $2,000,000, financial statements for over 30,000 firms, provided by 1,500 independent Certified Public Accounting firms, geographically dispersed throughout the country. This allows, the small firm to be viewed in a perspective to firms of similar size.
Business & Company Resource Center provides information on a company including profiles, industry rankings, investment reports, fiancial ratios, stock quotes, board of directors, history, associations and industry overviews. There are also journal articles about a company. The database may be search by company name, ticker symbol, geographically or NAICS code. Financial data and ratios are indicated by a tab under the company's name
The North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) is a U.S. Census Bureau web site that provides all of the industry codes and provides a conversion from the old SIC codes to the new NAICS codes. NAICS was developed jointly by the U.S., Canada, and Mexico to provide new comparability in statistics about business activity across North America. All of the sources mentioned above use NAICS and SIC codes for searching. The code list is searchable by broad industry categories and may be downloaded.