This document provides information on ratio analysis, including definitions, calculations, and uses of various types of ratios. It discusses profitability ratios, coverage ratios, turnover ratios, financial ratios, and control ratios. For each type of ratio, it provides examples and explanations of important individual ratios calculated within that category, such as gross profit ratio, current ratio, debt-to-equity ratio, and budget variance ratio. The document is intended to help explain ratio analysis and how different financial ratios can be used for analysis and decision making.

1. DR. J. MEXON P. RAYAN
MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING
– Unit 2 (Ratio Analysis)

2. RATIO ANALYSIS
Ratio analysis is a technique of analysis and
interpretation of financial statements. It is the
process of establishing and interpreting various
ratios for helping in making certain decisions.
However, ratio analysis is not an end in itself. It
is only a means of better understanding of
financial strengths and weaknesses of a firm.
Calculation of mere ratios does not serve any
purpose, unless several appropriate ratios are
analysed and interpreted.

3. Interpretation of the Ratios
1) Single absolute ratios :
2) Group of ratios :
3) Historical comparison :
4) Projected ratios :
5) Inter-firm comparison :

4. USES OF RATIO ANALYSIS
1. Managerial uses of Ratio Analysis
 Helps in decision making :
 Helps in financial forecasting and planning :
 Helps in communicating :
 Helps in co-ordination :
 Helps in control :
 Other uses :
2. Utility to Shareholders/ Investors :
3. Uses to Creditors :
4. Uses to Employees :
5. Uses to Government :

5. LIMITATIONS OF RATIO ANALYSIS
1. Limited use of a single ratio :
2. Lack of adequate standards :
3. Inherent limitations of accounting :
4. Change of accounting procedure :
5. Window dressing :
6. Personal bias :
7. Un comparable :
8. Absolute figures distortive :
9. Price level changes :
10. Ratios no substitutes :

6. Classification of Ratios

7. TYPES OF RATIO ANALYSIS
I. 1. Profitability Ratios
II. 2. Coverage Ratios
III. 3. Turnover Ratios
IV. 4. Financial Ratios
V. 5. Control Ratios

8. I. PROFITABILITY RATIOS
Profitability ratios are a class of financial metrics that are used to assess a
business's ability to generate earnings relative to its revenue, operating costs,
balance sheet assets, or shareholders' equity over time, using data from a
specific point in time. Profitability is an indication of the efficiency with which
the operations of the business are carried on. Poor operational performance
may indicate poor sales and hence poor profits. A lower profitability may areise
due to the lack of control over the expenses. Profitability refers to
the financial performance of the business. Accounting Ratios that
measure profitability are known as Profitability Ratios.
1. Gross Profit Ratio:
2. Operating Ratio
3. Operating Profit Ratio
4. Net Profit Ratio
5. Return on Investment
6. Return on Equity Shareholders’ Fund or Return on Net Worth:
7. Return on Total Assets:
8. Earnings per Share:
9. Payout Ratio:

9. 1. Gross profit: Gross Profit Ratio establishes the
relationship between gross profit and Revenue from
Operations, i.e. Net Sales of an enterprise. The
main objective of computing Gross Profit Ratio is to
determine the efficiency of the business. We can
also compare this ratio with the ratio of earlier years
or with that of other firms to compare and to assess
the efficiency of the business. Therefore, Higher
Gross Profit Ratio is better as it leaves a higher
margin to meet operating expenses and the creation
of reserves.
Gross Profit Ratio = (Gross Profit/Revenue from
Operations) x 100

10. 2. Operating Ratio: It establishes the relationship
between operating costs and Revenue
from Operations. Operating cost includes Cost of
Revenue from Operations and Operating Expenses.
These are those costs which are incurred for
operating activities of the business. The objective of
computing Operating Ratio is to assess the
operational efficiency of the business. Lower
Operating Ratio is better because it leaves a
higher profit margin to meet non-operating
expenses, to pay the dividend, etc. A rise in the
Operating Ratio indicates a decline in efficiency.
Operating Ratio = (Cost of Revenue from
Operations + Operating Expenses/Revenue from
Operations) x 100

11. 3. Operating Profit ratio: Operating Profit Ratio
measures the relationship between Operating
Profit and Revenue from Operations, i.e. Net
Sales. We compute Operating Profit Ratio by
dividing operating profit by revenue from
operations (Net Sales) and is express
in Percentage.
Operating Profit Ratio = (Operating
Profit/Revenue from Operations) x 100

12. 4. Net profit ratio: Net Profit Ratio measures
the relationship between Net Profit and Net
Sales. It shows the percentage of Net Profit
earned on Revenue from Operations.
 Net Profit Ratio = (Net Profit/Net Sales) x
100
Net Profit Ratio indicates the overall efficiency of
the business. Higher the Net Profit Ratio, better
is the business. An increase in the ratio over the
previous year shows improvement in operational
efficiency.

13. 5. Return on Investment: Return on Investment
or Return on Capital Employed shows the
relationship of profit (profit before interest and
tax) with capital employed. The result of
operations of a business is either profit or loss.
The funds or sources used in the business to
earn profit/loss are proprietors’ (shareholders’)
funds and loans.
 Return on Investment = (Net Profit before
Interest, Tax and Dividend/Capital
Employed) x 100

14. 6. Return on Equity Shareholders’ Fund or
Return on Net Worth: This ratio is a
measure of the percentage of net profit to
equity shareholders’ funds. The ratio is
expressed as follows: Here,
 Equity Shareholders’ Fund = Equity Share
Capital + Capital Reserves + Revenue
Reserves+ Balance of Profit and Loss
Account − Fictitious Assets − Non-
business Assets

15. 7. Return on Total Assets: This ratio is
calculated to measure the profit after tax against
the amount invested in total assets to ascertain
whether assets are being utilized properly or not.
Suppose net profit after tax is Rs.20,000 and
total assets are Rs.1,00,000. Return on total
assets will be 20% [i.e., Rs.20,000 ÷
Rs.1,00,000 x 100]. The higher the ratio, the
better it is for the concern.

16. 8. Earning Per share: This helps in determining
the market price of equity shares of the company
and in estimating the company’s capacity to pay
dividend to its equity shareholders.
If there are both preference and equity share
capitals, then out of net income first of all
preference dividends should be deducted in
order to find out the net income available for
equity shareholders. The performance and
prospects of the company are affected by
earning per share.

17. 9. Payout Ratio: This ratio indicates as to what
proportion of earning per share has been used for
paying dividend and what has been retained for
ploughing back.
This ratio is very important from shareholders’ point
of view as it tells him that if a company has used
whole or substantially the whole of it’s earning for
paying dividend and retained nothing for future
growth and expansion purposes, then there will be
very dim chances of capital appreciation in the price
of shares of such company.

18. 2. COVERAGE RATIOS
These ratios indicate the extent to which the
interests of the persons entitled to get a fixed
return (i.e. interest or dividend) or a scheduled
repayment as per agreed terms are safe. The
higher the cover, the better it is. Under this
category the following ratios are calculated:
(i) Fixed Interest Cover:
(ii) Fixed Dividend Cover:

19.  Fixed Interest Cover: It really measures the
ability of the concern to service the debt. This
ratio is very important from lender’s point of
view and indicates whether the business
would earn sufficient profits to pay periodically
the interest charges.
 Fixed Dividend Cover: This ratio is important
for preference shareholders entitled to get
dividend at a fixed rate in priority to other
shareholders.

20. 3. TURN OVER RATIOS
These ratios are very important for a concern to judge
how well facilities at the disposal of the concern are
being used or to measure the effectiveness with which a
concern uses its resources at its disposal. In short,
these will indicate position of assets usage. The greater
the ratio more will be efficiency of asset usage. The
lower ratio will reflect the under utilisation of the
resources available at the command of the concern.
(i) Sales to Capital Employed (or Capital Turnover)
Ratio:
(ii) Sales to Fixed Assets (or Fixed Assets Turnover)
Ratio:
(iii) Sales to Working Capital (or Working Capital
Turnover) Ratio:
(iv) Total Assets Turnover Ratio:

21. 4. FINANCIAL RATIOS
These ratios are calculated to judge the financial position of the
concern from long-term as well as short-term solvency point of
view. These ratios can be divided into two broad categories:
(A) Liquidity Ratios: These ratios are used to measure the
firm’s ability to meet short term obligations. They compare short
term obligations to short term (or current) resources available to
meet these obligations. From these ratios, much insight can be
obtained into the present cash solvency of the firm and the
firm’s ability to remain solvent in the event of adversity.
(i) Current Ratio (or Working Capital Ratio):
(ii) Liquid (or Acid Test or Quick) Ratio:
(iii) Absolute Liquidity (or Super Quick) Ratio:
(iv) Ratio of Inventory to Working Capital:

22. i.) Current Ratio: This is the most widely used
ratio. It is the ratio of current assets to current
liabilities. It shows a firm’s ability to cover its
current liabilities with its current assets.
Generally 2 : 1 is considered ideal for a concern
i.e., current assets should be twice of the current
liabilities. If the current assets are two times of
the current liabilities, there will be no adverse
effect on business operations when the payment
of current liabilities is made.

23. ii.) Liquid Ratio: This is the ratio of liquid assets
to liquid liabilities. It shows a firm’s ability to
meet current liabilities with its most liquid (quick)
assets. 1 : 1 ratio is considered ideal ratio for a
concern because it is wise to keep the liquid
assets at least equal to the liquid liabilities at all
times.
Liquid assets are those assets which are readily
converted into cash and will include cash
balances, bills receivable, sundry debtors and
short-term investments.

24. iii.) Absolute Liquidity Ratio: Though receivables are
generally more liquid than inventories, there may be
debts having doubt regarding their real stability in time.
So, to get idea about the absolute liquidity of a concern,
both receivables and inventories are excluded from
current assets and only absolute liquid assets, such as
cash in hand, cash at bank and readily realizable
securities are taken into consideration.
The desirable norm for this ratio is 1 : 2, i.e., K.1 worth
of absolute liquid assets are sufficient for K.2 worth of
current liabilities. Even though the ratio gives a more
meaningful measure of liquidity, it is not in much use
because the idea of keeping a large cash balance or
near cash items has long since teen disproved. Cash
balance yields no return and as such is barren.

25. iv.) Ratio of Inventory to Working Capital: In
order to ascertain that there is no overstocking,
the ratio of inventory to working capital should
be calculated.
Working Capital is the excess of current assets
over current liabilities. Increase in volume of
sales requires increase in size of inventory, but
from a sound financial point of view, inventory
should not exceed amount of working capital.
The desirable ratio is 1 : 1.

26. (B) Stability Ratios:These ratios help in
ascertaining the long term solvency of a firm which
depends on firm’s adequate resources to meet its
long term funds requirements, appropriate debt
equity mix to raise long term funds and earnings to
pay interest and installment of long term loans in
time (i.e., coverage ratios).
(i) Fixed Assets Ratio:
(ii) Ratio of Current Assets to Fixed Assets:
(iii) Debt Equity Ratio:
(iv) Proprietary Ratio:

27. i.) Fixed Asset Ratio: This ratio explains
whether the firm has raised adequate long term
funds to meet its fixed assets requirements.
This ratio gives an idea as to what part of the
capital employed has been used in purchasing
the fixed assets for the concern. If the ratio is
less than one it is good for the concern.

28. ii.) Ratio of Current Assets to Fixed Assets:
This ratio will differ from industry to industry and,
therefore, no standard can be laid down. A
decrease in the ratio may mean that trading is
slack or more mechanisation has been put
through. An increase in the ratio may reveal that
inventories and debtors have unduly increased
or fixed assets have been intensively used. An
increase in the ratio, accompanied by increase
in profit, indicates the business is expanding.

29. iii.) Debt Equity Ratio: It measures the extent of
equity covering the debt. This ratio is calculated
to measure the relative proportions of outsiders’
funds and shareholders’ funds invested in the
company. This ratio is determined to ascertain
the soundness of long term financial policies of
that company and is also known as external-
internal equity ratio.

30. iv.) Proprietary Ratio: A variant of debt to
equity ratio is the proprietary ratio which shows
the relationship between shareholders’ funds
and total tangible assets.
This ratio should be 1: 3 i.e., one-third of the
assets minus current liabilities should be
acquired by shareholders’ funds and the other
two-thirds of the assets should be financed by
outsiders funds. It focuses the attention on the
general financial strength of the business
enterprise.

31. 5. CONTROL RATIOS
Control ratios are used by the management to know
whether the deviations of the actual performance from
the budgeted performance are favourable or
unfavourable. If the ratio is 100% or more the
performance is considered as favourable and if the ratio
is less than 100% the performance is considered as
unsatisfactory. This ratio indicates the extent to which
budgeted hours of activity is actually utilized. If the ratio
is 85%, budgeted capacity is utilized up-to 85% and
15% capacity remains unutilized.
This ratio measures the level of activity attained during
the budget period.