The Common Size Analysis of Financial Statements

While most firms do not report their statements in common size format, it is beneficial for analysts to do so to compare two or more companies of differing size or different sectors of the economy. Formatting financial statements in this way reduces bias that can occur and allows for the analysis of a company over various periods. This analysis reveals, for example, what percentage of sales is the cost of goods sold and how that value has changed over time.

It is important to realize that the common size balance sheet is not required by Accounting Standards, and is used more as a management tool rather than a formal reporting document. The main idea of financial statements is to give information about the business. When converting standard financial statements into common-sized statements, you can easily compare your assets to liabilities ratio and your gross profit to sales ratio. Common size financial statements reduce all figures to a comparable figure, such as a percentage of sales or assets. Each financial statement uses a slightly different convention in standardizing figures.

What Is Meant by Common Size Balance Sheet?

The goodwill level on a balance sheet also helps indicate the extent to which a company has relied on acquisitions for growth. All three of the primary financial statements can be put into a common size format. Financial statements in dollar amounts can easily be converted to common size statements using a spreadsheet. Below is an overview of each financial statement and a more detailed summary of the benefits and drawbacks that such an analysis can provide to you. With the cash flow statement, you can divide the statement into its three parts (financing activities, investing activities, and operating activities). Then compute the relevant common size ratio by dividing the line items by the net cash flow for the specific section of the statement.

Although common-size balance sheets are most typically utilized by internal management, they also provide useful information to external parties, including independent auditors. The most valuable aspect of a common size balance sheet is that it supports ease of comparability. The common size balance sheet shows the makeup of a company’s various assets and liabilities through the presentation of percentages, in addition to absolute dollar values. This affords the ability to quickly compare the historical trend of various line items or categories and provides a baseline for comparison of two firms of different market capitalizations. Additionally, the relative percentages may be compared across companies and industries.

Objective and Purposes of Common-Size Financial Statements

The company should look for ways to cut costs and increase sales in order to boost profitability. A common size balance sheet is a comparative analysis of a company’s performance over a period, used to determine how the company is using its assets. A common size analysis can also give insight into companies’ different strategies. For instance, one company may be willing to sacrifice margins for market share, which would tend to make overall sales larger at the expense of gross, operating, or net profit margins. While you viewed IBM on a stand-alone basis, like the R&D analysis, IBM should also be analyzed by comparing it to its key rivals.

This type of analysis is often used when performing due diligence for an acquisition, a valuation or any other financial transaction. The technique of common size statement analysis is used to interpret three financial statements including balance sheet, income statement and cash flow statement. However, in this article, we will cover most commonly used statements for common size analysis. A common size how to calculate percentage in common size balance sheet balance sheet allows for the relative percentage of each asset, liability, and equity account to be quickly analyzed. Likewise, any single liability is compared to the value of total liabilities, and any equity account is compared to the value of total equity. For this reason, each major classification of account will equal 100%, as all smaller components will add up to the major account classification.

Formula for Common Size Analysis

Common size balance sheet is the balance sheet that prepares by management to show both values of each item in assets, liabilities, and equity in currency (USD) and percentages (%) at the end of the accounting period. Using this statement, users could quickly see the percentage of each item, cash or account receivable, compared to total assets. Another version of the common size balance sheet shows asset line items as a percentage of total assets, liabilities as a percentage of total liabilities, and stockholders’ equity as a percentage of total stockholders’ equity. The common-size percentages on the balance sheet explain how our assets are allocated OR how much of every dollar in assets we owe to others (liabilities) and to owners (equity). Many computerized accounting systems automatically calculate common-size percentages on financial statements.

• You can use it to see how your business stacks up percentage-wise with another business, even if that business is substantially larger.
• Financial statements in dollar amounts can easily be converted to common size statements using a spreadsheet.
• Although common size analysis is not as detailed as trend analysis using ratios, it does provide a simple way for financial managers to analyze financial statements.
• This may factor into investment decisions and ratings given to a company by external stakeholders.

On the other hand, stockholders are keen in knowing the net income and future earnings of the company. From this, it can be seen that Gross Profit remained the same at 100% of revenue. Research & Development did not change at 1%, Selling General & Administrative declined ever so slightly from 38% to 37% of revenues. EBITDA went from 32% to 49% of revenues, and EBIT went from 28% to 46% of revenues.