What is the Balance Sheet Analysis?

The following Balance Sheet Analysis outlines the most commonly used by investors and financial analysts to analyze a company. It is a complete analysis of items on the balance sheet at various intervals of time, like quarterly or annually, and is used by shareholders, investors, and institutions to understand the company’s exact financial position. It is impossible to provide a complete set of analyses that addresses every variation in every situation since there are thousands of variables.

In this article, we have divided our analysis into two parts –

  • #1 -Analysis of Assets#2 – Analysis of Liabilities

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Let us discuss each one of them in detail –

#1 – How to do Analysis of Assets in the Balance Sheet?

Assets include fixed assets or Non-current assets and current assets.

A) Non-Current Asset

Non-current assetsNon-current AssetsNon-current assets are long-term assets bought to use in the business, and their benefits are likely to accrue for many years. These Assets reveal information about the company’s investing activities and can be tangible or intangible. Examples include property, plant, equipment, land & building, bonds and stocks, patents, trademark.read more include the items of fixed assets like property plant & equipment (PPE). The fixed-assets analyses calculate the assets’ earning potential, use, and useful life. The fixed asset efficiency can be analyzed by calculating the ratio of the fixed asset turnover.

This ratio is of more significance to the manufacturing industry than the other industries as there is a substantial purchase of property, plant & equipment in the manufacturing concern to get the required output.

The Formula of Fixed Asset Turnover RatioFormula Of Fixed Asset Turnover RatioThe fixed asset turnover ratio formula determines the ability of a business entity to generate revenue by employing its fixed assets. It is computed as the fraction of net sales and average net fixed assets.read more –

Where,

  • Net sales are sales less returns and discountsAnd average fixed assets = (opening fixed assets + closing fixed assets) / 2

For example, Tricot Inc. reported its sales for the financial year 2018-19 as $400,000, and out of these sales returned were $4,000. Also, it reported its total property, plant, and equipment (PPE) as of 31st March 2019 as $200,000. The balance of PPE as of 1st April 2018 was $160,000.

  • Now net salesNet SalesNet sales is the revenue earned by a company from the sale of its goods or services, and it is calculated by deducting returns, allowances, and other discounts from the company’s gross sales.read more = $400,000 – $40,000 = $360,000Average fixed assets =($160,000 + $200,000)/2 =$180,000

So, Fixed Asset Turnover Ratio will be –

This ratio reflects how efficiently the company’s management uses its substantial fixed assets to generate revenue for the firm. The higher the ratio, the higher the efficiency of the fixed assets.

B) Current Assets

Current assetsCurrent AssetsCurrent assets refer to those short-term assets which can be efficiently utilized for business operations, sold for immediate cash or liquidated within a year. It comprises inventory, cash, cash equivalents, marketable securities, accounts receivable, etc.read more are such assets that are likely to be converted into cash within a year. The current assets include cash, account receivable, and inventories.

The ratios which help in the analysis of current assets are

It is a liquidity ratio that measures the ability of the company to pay off its short-term debts.

The formula for the current ratio is:

Where

  • Current assets = Cash & Cash equivalents + Inventories + Accounts receivableAccounts ReceivableAccounts receivables is the money owed to a business by clients for which the business has given services or delivered a product but has not yet collected payment. They are categorized as current assets on the balance sheet as the payments expected within a year.
  • read more + other assets that can be converted into cash within a year;Current Liabilities = Accounts payableAccounts PayableAccounts payable is the amount due by a business to its suppliers or vendors for the purchase of products or services. It is categorized as current liabilities on the balance sheet and must be satisfied within an accounting period.read more + short term debt+ current portion of long term debtCurrent Portion Of Long Term DebtCurrent Portion of Long-Term Debt (CPLTD) is payable within the next year from the date of the balance sheet, and are separated from the long-term debt as they are to be paid within next year using the company’s cash flows or by utilizing its current assets.read more

It is a liquidity ratio that measures the company’s short-term liquidity position by calculating the company’s ability to pay off its current liabilities with the use of its most liquid assets.

The formula of Quick Ratio

  • Where, quick assets = Cash & cash equivalents + Accounts receivable + other short term assetsShort Term AssetsShort term assets (also known as current assets) are the assets that are highly liquid in nature and can be easily sold to realize money from the market. They have a maturity of fewer than 12 months and are highly tradable and marketable in nature.read moreCurrent liabilities = Accounts payable + short term debt + current portion of long term debt

Example: Microsoft Inc. is a manufacturing concern which reported the following items in the balance sheet:

Now the Total current assets = $10,000 + $6,000 + $11,000 + $3,000 = $30,000

  • Quick assetsQuick AssetsQuick Assets are assets that are liquid in nature and can be converted into cash easily by liquidating them in the market. Fixed deposits, liquid funds, marketable securities, bank balances, and so on are examples.read more = $10,000+ $11,000 = $21,000Total current liabilities = $8,000 + $7,000 = $15,000Therefore, current ratioCurrent RatioThe current ratio is a liquidity ratio that measures how efficiently a company can repay it’ short-term loans within a year. Current ratio = current assets/current liabilities
  • read more = $30,000/$15,000 = 2:1

So, Quick Ratio will be –

Quick ratio = $21,000/$15,000 = 1.4:1

C) Cash

Investors are more attracted towards the company who is having plenty of cash reported on their balance sheetBalance SheetA balance sheet is one of the financial statements of a company that presents the shareholders’ equity, liabilities, and assets of the company at a specific point in time. It is based on the accounting equation that states that the sum of the total liabilities and the owner’s capital equals the total assets of the company.read more

as the cash offers security to the investors because it can be used in tough times. Increasing cash year to year is a good sign, but diminishing cash can be considered a sign of trouble. But if plenty of cash is retained for many years, investors should see why the management is not putting it into use. The reasons for maintaining a considerable amount of cash include management’s lack of interest in the investment opportunities, or maybe they are short-sighted, so they do not know how to utilize the cash. The company does even the cash flow analysis to determine its source of cash generation and its application.

D) Inventories

Inventories are the finished goods accumulated by the company for selling to its customers. The investor will see how much money is tied up by the company in its inventory. To analyze the inventory, a company calculates its inventory turnover ratioCalculates Its Inventory Turnover RatioInventory Turnover Ratio measures how fast the company replaces a current batch of inventories and transforms them into sales. Higher ratio indicates that the company’s product is in high demand and sells quickly, resulting in lower inventory management costs and more earnings.read more, which is calculated as below:

Inventory Turnover Ratio = Cost of goods sold / Average inventory

  • Cost of goods soldCost Of Goods SoldThe Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) is the cumulative total of direct costs incurred for the goods or services sold, including direct expenses like raw material, direct labour cost and other direct costs. However, it excludes all the indirect expenses incurred by the company.
  • read more = Opening stock + purchases – Closing stockClosing StockClosing stock or inventory is the amount that a company still has on its hand at the end of a financial period. It may include products getting processed or are produced but not sold. Raw materials, work in progress, and final goods are all included on a broad level.read moreAverage inventoryAverage InventoryAverage Inventory is the mean of opening and closing inventory of a particular period. It helps the management to understand the inventory that a business needs to hold during its daily course of business.read more = (Opening inventory + Closing inventory) / 2

This ratio calculates how fast the inventory is converted into sales. A higher inventory ratioInventory RatioInventory ratio or inventory turnover ratio is an activity ratio that depicts the frequency of replacing the stocks sold by the company in a certain period. It is evaluated as the proportion of the cost of goods sold to the average inventory.read more shows that the goods are sold quickly by the company and vice versa.

E) Accounts Receivables

For this, the company calculates the Accounts receivable turnover ratio, which is calculated as below:

Accounts Receivable Turnover Ratio = Net credit sales/Average accounts receivable

  • Net credit salesNet Credit SalesNet credit sales is the revenue generated from goods or services sold on credit excluding the sales discount, sales allowance and sales return. It even amounts to the accounts receivables for a certain accounting period.read more = Sales – Sales return – discountsAverage accounts receivable = (Opening accounts receivable + closing accounts receivable) / 2

This ratio calculates the number of times the company collects the average accounts receivable over a given period. The higher the ratio, the higher the company’s efficiency in collecting it debtorsDebtorsA debtor is a borrower who is liable to pay a certain sum to a credit supplier such as a bank, credit card company or goods supplier. The borrower could be an individual like a home loan seeker or a corporate body borrowing funds for business expansion. read more.

#2 – How to Analyze Liabilities on the Balance Sheet?

Liabilities include current liabilities and non-current liabilities. Current liabilities are obligations of the company to be paid within a year, whereas non-current liabilities are the obligations that are to be paid after a year.

A) Non-Current Liabilities

It can be done by the debt to equity ratioDebt To Equity RatioThe debt to equity ratio is a representation of the company’s capital structure that determines the proportion of external liabilities to the shareholders’ equity. It helps the investors determine the organization’s leverage position and risk level. read more. The formula for the same is:

  • Where long term debts = debts to be paid off after a yearShareholders equityShareholders EquityShareholder’s equity is the residual interest of the shareholders in the company and is calculated as the difference between Assets and Liabilities. The Shareholders’ Equity Statement on the balance sheet details the change in the value of shareholder’s equity from the beginning to the end of an accounting period.read more = Equity share capital + preference share capital + accumulated profits

For example, Mania Inc. has its equity share capital amounting to $100,000. Its Reserves and surplusReserves And SurplusReserves and Surplus is the amount kept aside from the profits that are to be used either for the business or for the shareholders to pay out dividends. Reserves and surplus is reflected under shareholders funds in the balance sheet.read more are $20,000, and the long term debts are $150,000

Therefore the debt to equity ratio = $150,000 / ($100,000 + $20,000) = 1.25:1

This ratio measures the proportion of the debt fund as compared to equity. It helps to know the relative weights of the debts and the equity.

B) Current Liabilities

The current liabilities can also be analyzed with the help of the current ratio and the quick ratioQuick RatioThe quick ratio, also known as the acid test ratio, measures the ability of the company to repay the short-term debts with the help of the most liquid assets. It is calculated by adding total cash and equivalents, accounts receivable, and the marketable investments of the company, then dividing it by its total current liabilities.read more. Both ratios are discussed above in the current assets section.

C) Equity

The amount of capital contributedAmount Of Capital ContributedContributed capital is the amount that shareholders have given to the company for buying their stake and is recorded in the books of accounts as the common stock and additional paid-in capital under the equity section of the company’s balance sheet.read more by the shareholders is represented by the Equity and is also called shareholder’s equity. Equity is calculated by subtracting total liabilities from the total assets.

There are various ways in which equity can be analyzed.

Return on equityReturn On EquityReturn on Equity (ROE) represents financial performance of a company. It is calculated as the net income divided by the shareholders equity. ROE signifies the efficiency in which the company is using assets to make profit.read more  is an important determinant that shows the company how the company is managing shareholders’ capital. It is calculated by dividing the net income by the shareholder’s equity. Higher the ROE, the better it is for shareholders.

For example, XYZ had $20 million net income last year and shareholders’ equity of $40 million last year, then.

ROE = $20,000,000/$40,000,000 = 50%

It shows that XYZ generated $0.50 profit for every $1 of shareholders’ equity with an ROE of 50%.

Another ratio that helps analyze equity is the debt-equity ratio. The same is explained in the case of non-current liabilities, where Mania Inc has a debt-equity ratio of 1.25. The company has a higher debt-equity ratio as the company’s debt is more than the equity. A lower debt-equity ratio implies more financial stability. Companies having a higher debt-equity ratio, like in the present example, are considered riskier to the investors and the creditors of the company.

This article has been a guide to Balance Sheet Analysis. Here we discuss step by step how to analyze balance sheet assets, liabilities, and equity along with examples and explanations. You may learn more about accounting from the following articles –

  • Balance Sheet RatiosHow to Read a Balance Sheet?Examples of Balance Sheet Comparative Balance Sheet