There are many financial ratios you can use to assess the health of the business – but the ratios we've provided here are the main ones, and are easy for you to use.
The ratios are grouped together under the key areas you should focus on.
Liquidity ratios
Liquidity ratios assess your business' ability to pay its bills as they fall due – indicating the ease of turning assets into cash.
In most cases, it's better to have higher ratios in this category (more current assets) than current liabilities as an indication of sound business activities and an ability to withstand tight cash flow periods.
Current ratio
Current ratio = Total current assets / Total current liabilities
As one of the most common measures of financial strength, this ratio measures whether the business has enough current assets to meet its due debts with a margin of safety.
A generally acceptable current ratio is 2:1, but this depends on the nature of the industry, and the form of its current assets and liabilities.
For example, your business may have current assets mostly made up of cash and would survive with a relatively lower ratio.
Quick ratio
Quick ratio = Current assets – stock on hand / Current liabilities
Sometimes called the 'acid test ratio', this is one of the best measures of liquidity.
By excluding stock which could take some time to turn into cash unless the price is 'knocked down', it concentrates on real, liquid assets.
It helps answer the question:
- If the business doesn't receive income for a period, can it meet its current obligations with the readily convertible 'quick' funds on hand?
Solvency ratios
Solvency ratios indicate the extent to which the business is able to meet all its debt obligations from sources other than cash flow.
It answers the question:
- If the business suffers from reduced cash flow, will it be able to continue to meet the debt and interest expense obligations from other sources?
Leverage ratio
Leverage ratio = Total liabilities / Equity
The leverage (or gearing) ratio indicates the extent to which the business is reliant on debt financing versus equity to fund the assets of the business.
In most cases the higher the ratio, the more difficult it will be to obtain further borrowings.
Debt to assets
Debt to assets = Total liabilities / Total assets
This measures the percentage of assets being financed by liabilities.
In most cases, this ratio should be less than 1 – indicating adequacy of total assets to finance all debt.
Profitability ratios
These ratios will measure your business performance and ultimately indicate the level of success of your business operations.
Comparing your net and gross margin calculations to those of other businesses within the same industry will provide you with comparative information, and potentially highlight possible scope for improvement in your margins.
The Australian Tax Office (ATO) has an app to help you determine how your business compares to competitors in the same industry.
Gross margin ratio
Gross margin ratio = Gross profit / Total sales
This measures the percentage of sales dollars remaining (after obtaining or manufacturing the goods sold) available to pay the overhead expenses of the business.
Net margin ratio
Net margin ratio = Net profit / Total sales
This measures the percentage of sales dollars left after all expenses (including stock), except income taxes.
It provides a good opportunity to compare the business's return on income with the performance of similar businesses.
Management ratios
Management ratios monitor how effectively you're managing your working capital, and determine:
- how quickly you're replacing stock
- how often you're collecting debts outstanding from customers
- how often you're paying your suppliers
These calculations provide an average that can be used to improve business performance.
Comparing your management ratio calculations to those of other businesses within the same industry will provide you with comparative information that may highlight possible scope for improvement in your trading activities.
Use the ATO's Business performance check tool to determine how your business compares to competitors in the same industry.
Stock days
Stock days = Average stock x 365 / Cost of goods sold
This ratio reveals how well your stock is being managed. It's important because it will indicate how long you're holding your stock for. In most cases, the less amount of time stock is held, the greater the profit.
Debtor days
Debtor days = Debtors x 365 / Total sales
This ratio indicates how well the cash from customers is being collected – referred to as accounts receivable. If accounts receivables are excessively slow in being converted to cash, the liquidity of your business will be severely affected.
Creditor days
Creditor days =Creditors x 365 / Purchases
This ratio indicates how well accounts payable are being managed.
If payables are being paid on average before agreed payment terms and/or before debts are being collected, cash flow will be impacted.
If payments to suppliers are excessively slow, there is a possibility that the supplier relationships will be damaged.
Balance sheet ratios
These ratios will provide an indication of how effective your investment is in the business. The return on assets and investment ratios assess the efficiency of your business resources.
Return on assets
Return on assets = Net profit before tax x 100 / Total assets
This measures how efficiently profits are being generated from the assets employed in the business.
The ratio will only have meaning when compared with the ratios of others in similar organisations. A low ratio in comparison with industry averages indicates an inefficient use of business assets.
Use the ATO's Business performance check tool to determine how your business compares to competitors in the same industry.
Return on investment
Return on investment = Net profit before tax x 100 / Equity
The return on investments (ROI) is perhaps the most important ratio of all as it tells you whether or not all the effort put into the business is – in addition to achieving the strategic objective –returning an appropriate return on the equity generated.