How to find Financial Ratios:

Before you Start: 

1.  Locate the SIC or NAIC of your industry.

A) If you have a company name:
Lexis/Nexis Academic Database / Business / Company Dossier (access to restricted to CSUSM students).  Other titles below that indicate Company (x) can also provide SIC and NAIC.

B) If you know the industry name:
Go to U.S. Census to find the industry classification number NAICS or SIC:
North American Industrial Classification System

2.  The titles listed provide industry financial averages and ratios. Most are located in the Business Quick Reference area of the lbrary or as electronic databases.

• Business Course Guides • Business Subject Guides • Business Databases

Ann Fiegen Business & Economics Librarian Kellogg Library 3423 afiegen@csusm.edu 760-750-4365

Title Descriptions

BizStats.com
Find business statistics, profitability and financial ratios for industry type and company.

Business Week Investment Outlook 2006
You will find profitability ratios by industry group, and selected companies. As an investing tool also includes analyst estimates, consensus, and S&P equity rankings. I hesitate to put this up, since links to newer or older years are available off this page.

Factiva
Provides latest year financial reports only.
If you have a company name and you want to compare the company's financial ratios to its industry SIC or NAIC.
Use the GREEN BAR Companies / Markets tab at the top of the screen, once the company page is loaded scroll down to Reports / Comparison reports.

Financial Studies of the Small Business
REFERENCE HD 2346 .U5 F55a INDEX TABLE
Financial reports by industry of companies with less than one million in assets.

Industry Norms and Key Business Ratios / Dun and Bradstreet.
REFERENCE HF5681 .R25 I 532
Arranged by SIC, ratios by industry. Provides quadrant comparisons. Data derived from credit sources.

Mergent Online
A financial analysis database of over 10,000 publicly traded US and international companies. Search by SIC, long term debt, profit margin, total revenue, and more. Create custom financial comparison charts. Includes EDGAR (SEC) filings back to 1993.

Lexis Nexis Academic
Financial Ratios can be found in the Disclosure Reports.  To find those search Business / Company Financials or Business / Company Profiles.  Type the name or your company and search for the source Disclosure.

RMA Annual Statement Studies
REFERENCE HF5681.B2 R6
Industry financials and ratios by industry type (SIC). Comparison data back 5 years.  Data derived from membership loan applications

Reuters Business and Finance Stocks
Once you enter a company name, choose ratios report. Includes lots of ratios, by company, industry, sector, and S&T 500.  This path will lead you to the short free reports.

Standard and Poor's Industry Survey. Monthly investment review.
REFERENCE  HG4915 .S652
Essays in broad industry categories. Financials for companies back 5 years, and 10th year.

Tax Statistics / IRS
Use the business tax statistics to see statistics by sector, industry, type of return and size.  Especially useful for sole proprietorship, partnerships where data is not as easily accessible from other sources. Data derived from tax returns and other tax agency statistics.

By business entity : industry grouping
Tax Stats averages for income filings by broad NAIC industry classification: income, deductions, taxes, credits etc.  Downloadable spreadsheets are available by business entity type.

By Charity and other Tax Exempt Organization
 Charities and other Tax Exempt Organizations--balance sheet and income statements, expenses

Troy's Almanac of Business and Industrial Financial Ratios / Leo Troy. 
REFERENCE 5681.R25 A45 2004
Troy's uses IRS tax return data, the publication covers 192 industries, and 50 performance indicators, you can often find more detail in Troy's.   Use NAICS to locate your industry.  Useful when other titles do not cover your industry, and includes some industries that are typically privately held. Data derived from tax returns

Value Line Investment Survey HG4501 .V26 RESEARCH  HELP DESK
Provides a short set of financial ratios for industries that can be compared to company reports.

Yahoo Finance Stock Screening
Choose industry, and selected ratios for sales and profitability and valuation. For current year only
 

How to interpret ratios

Recommended Subject in the Library Catalog:

Ratio Analysis

Bragg, S. M. (2002). Business ratios and formulas: a comprehensive guide, Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. HF5691 . B73 2002

CCH Business Owner's Toolkit:  Business Ratios
http://www.toolkit.cch.com/text/P06_7100.asp
Describes definitions and uses of ratios starting by grouping into the four main categories of liquidity, efficiency, profitability and solvency.  Also includes an interactive financial ratio interactive calculator tool.

RMA annual statement studies:  Introduction to Annual Statement Studies: Financial Ratio Benchmarks

The introductory pages of the RMA annual statement studies appears here.  It describes the ratios and how to use them in an industry or competitor analysis.

SBA Online Women's Business Center: Financial Ratios and Quality Indicators.
http://www.onlinewbc.gov/docs/finance/fs_ratio1.html#ratiowk
Describes definition, formula and analysis for financial ratios.

Last updated: 04/28/08