Ratios

From WikiTextbook

Ratios are a way to evaluate the performance of your business and identify potential problems. Each ratio informs you about factors such as the earning power, solvency, efficiency, and debt load of your business. They are used to measure the relationship between 2 or more components of the financial statements and have greater meaning when the results are compared to industry standards for businesses of similar size and activity.

Various ratios can be established from key figures on the financial statements. These ratios are very simple to calculate � sometimes they are simply expressed in the format "x:y," and other times they are simply one number divided by another, with the answer expressed as a percentage. However, these simple ratios can be a powerful tool because they allow you to immediately grasp the relationship expressed.

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