Special Reference To Balance Sheet Analysis

Balance sheet analysis is an important task to understand the financial health and performance of a company. It provides a snapshot of a company's assets, liabilities, and shareholders' equity at a specific point in time. Here are some key points to consider when performing an analysis:

1. Balance Sheet Structure:

     * ASSETS: represent assets that the company owns or controls and can be classified as current assets (short-term assets) and non-current assets (long-term assets).

     * Obligations: liabilities: what the company owes to external parties and can be expressed in current liabilities (short-term liabilities) and non-current liabilities (long-term liabilities).

     * Shareholders' Equity: Shareholders' equity represents the residual interest in the company's assets minus liabilities. Includes common stock, retained earnings, and additional paid-in capital.

2. Liquidity assessment:

     * Current Ratio: Calculate the current ratio by dividing current assets by liabilities. It measures a company's ability to cover its short-term liabilities with its short-term assets. A ratio above 1 indicates a good liquidity position.

     * Quick ratio: Similar to the current ratio, but excludes inventory from current assets, because it is not so easily converted to current. A higher quick ratio indicates that short term liquidity is better.

3. Debt Analysis:

     *Debt to*Equity Ratio: Divide total liabilities by shareholders' equity to determine the company's leverage. Higher ratios indicate a reliance on debt financing, which may increase financial risk.

     * Interest coverage ratio: calculate by dividing earnings before interest and income (EBIT) after interest is calculated. It measures a company's ability to cover interest payments with its operating profits. A higher ratio indicates better debt servicing ability.

4. Asset Quality:

     * Accounts Receivable Turnover: Divide net credit sales by average accounts receivable to assess how quickly the company collects payments from its customers. A higher raw material indicates better acceptable management.

     * Inventory Turnover: Divide the cost of goods sold by the average inventory to measure how efficiently the company manages its inventory. A higher turnover suggests effective inventory management.

5. Profitability Analysis:

     * Return on Assets (ROA): Calculated by dividing net income by average total assets. It shows the company's ability to generate profits from its assets.

     * Return on Equity (ROE): Divide net income by average shareholders' equity to estimate the company's profitability from an equity investment perspective.

6. Superlative Analysis:

     * Compare the current balance with previous periods or industry benchmarks to identify trends, changes in financial performance, or areas of strength/weakness.

Remember that balance sheet analysts have only one aspect of comprehensive financial analysis. It is essential to consider other financial statements (such as the income statement and the cash flow statement) and quality factors with respect to overall performance and evaluating expectations.