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Financial Analysis: the Big Picture

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Financial Analysis: The Big Picture

ACC/300

10 September 2012
Connie Poynter
University of Phoenix

Financial Analysis: The Big Picture

When looking at the big picture in referring to financial analysis, there are four tools to consider, sustainable income, comparative analysis, ratio analysis and quality of earnings. While each of these tools is equally important I will provide an overview of two of these concepts to consider while deciding on a company’s financial health. Sustainable income is a level of income which is a realistic expectation of income to achieve in the future. Of course it would be very easy to call a company’s net income a realistic expectation until you consider items that can and will drastically change a company’s bottom line. Irregular items, changes in accounting principles and comprehensive income are all factors when considering a sustainable income. Irregular items are further broken down into discontinued operations and extraordinary items. Discontinued operations refer directly to the closing or disposal of a significant portion or component of a company. Extraordinary items cover extreme and rare acts such as volcano eruptions and hostile government takeovers. A change in accounting principles would take into account a company choosing to go with a more up to date or efficient form of accounting related to its business. If this happens, the changes must be made retroactive to cover the previous period. The last item which can affect a sustainable income is comprehensive income. This is income that is not reported directly in a company’s net income. This is usually changes in stockholders equity such as a sale in stock that was purchased as an investment. If a gain or loss was realized, this would be listed under comprehensive income on the income statement. Ratio analysis is used to show the short-term liquidity, long-term solvency and the overall profitability of a company. Liquidity ratios show the short term ability of a company to come up with fast cash if the need was to arise. Solvency ratios are used primarily by creditors and stockholders to determine the company’s ability to survive over a long period based upon its ability to pay its debt by its own cash flow. Profitability ratios show a company’s success over a given period of time. This is very important to all parties so that they can assess if a company has the ability not only to sustain itself but to potentially grow. The basics are that if a company is profitable over a given period of time based upon all other influences, one could expect the company to repeat that same success all things equal. As shown, these are just two of four tools to use when determining the financial health of a company. It is important to realize that a company’s current health is most certainly no indication of how it might fair in the future, but if a company is struggling it would also most certainly be in their best interest to attempt to make some changes based upon the outcome of their own internal health check.

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