Financial management and accountancy - Financial analysis

Analysing financial statementsIf you are asked to comment on the finances of a potential new customer you should download a copy of their latest financial statements from Companies House. What should you do next?Full set neededWhatever the filing req... Read more

Company solvency calculatorCompany directors should be alert to their potential personal liabilities for the offence of wrongful trading. So how do you tell if your company might be trading wrongfully, and thereby exposing the directors to risk. Cond... Read more

Days sales outstanding calculatorReporting debtor management key performance indicators (KPIs) to those involved in the process of billing and collecting can be motivating. This in turn can shorten cash collection times and improve cash flow. Output ... Read more

Z score calculatorThe "Z" score of a business has a 70% to 80% accuracy in predicting whether it is likely to become insolvent within two years. This could be a particularly useful tool to help evaluate your company's financial health and that of its cu... Read more

Pareto analysis spreadsheetMany of your daily work problems don't have a single root cause, rather several quite separate contributing factors. You can use Pareto analysis to analyse this cause and effect.The 80/20 rulePareto analysis is the method of ... Read more

Sales trends analysisSales levels can fluctuate for a number of reasons, and where they have declined it is right for the board to be concerned. Falling sales could indicate problems with marketing, distributors, the product, production levels, prici... Read more

Operating leverage calculatorIn times when sales are volatile, profitability depends on the level of your company's operating leverage. You can help your business by working out what this is and identifying steps to improve it. Fixed costsOperating le... Read more

Overheads ratio recordIt's common practice to consider absolute cost numbers versus budget and prior year. However, accounting ratios show the relationship of one number to another relevant number which can be much more revealing. Using operating cost... Read more

Economic value added calculatorIf your business has generated growth for the year, even beating budget or last year's total, your fellow managers may be feeling very satisfied. But does this mean that the company has added value for its shareholders? ... Read more