In: Finance
Discuss Relevance of financial analysis
Financial analysis is the process of evaluating businesses, projects, budgets, and other finance-related transactions to determine their performance and suitability. Typically, financial analysis is used to analyze whether an entity is stable, solvent, liquid, or profitable enough to warrant a monetary investment.
Analysis of financial statements provides information about the financial position & performance of the company. It helps the management in planning & deciding the future policies of the company. Analysis helps in finding out the earning capacity & operating performance of the company.
One of the most common ways to analyze financial data is to calculate ratios from the data in the financial statements to compare against those of other companies or against the company's own historical performance.
For example, return on assets (ROA) is a common ratio used to determine how efficient a company is at using its assets and as a measure of profitability. This ratio could be calculated for several companies in the same industry and compared to one another as part of a larger analysis.