Common Size Balance Sheet: Meaning, Objectives and Format of Common Size Balance Sheet

Common size income statements with easy-to-read percentages allow for more consistent and comparable financial statement analysis over time and between competitors. In general, managers prefer expenses as a percent of net sales to decrease over time, and profit figures as a percent of net sales to increase over time. As you can see in Figure 13.5 “Common-Size Income Statement Analysis for “, Coca-Cola’s gross margin as a percent of net sales decreased from 2009 to 2010 (64.2 percent versus 63.9 percent).

This firm may have purchased new fixed assets at the wrong time since its COGS was rising during the same period. The following example of company XYZ’s income statement and revenue and expense calculations helps you understand how common size income statement analysis works. Common size financial statement analysis, which is also called a “vertical” analysis, is a technique that financial managers use to analyze their financial statements. It is not another type of income statement but is a tool used to analyze the income statement.

Common size financial statement definition

Common‐size analysis (also called vertical analysis) expresses each line item on a single year’s financial statement as a percent of one line item, which is referred to as a base amount. The base amount for the balance sheet is usually total assets (which is the same number as total liabilities plus stockholders’ equity), and for the income statement it is usually net sales or revenues. By comparing https://simple-accounting.org/the-income-statement/ two or more years of common‐size statements, changes in the mixture of assets, liabilities, and equity become evident. On the income statement, changes in the mix of revenues and in the spending for different types of expenses can be identified. The technique can be used to analyze the three primary financial statements, i.e., balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement.

• The common size income statement shows that the percentage of COGS has also gone up.
• A common size income statement makes it easier to see what’s driving a company’s profits.
• Notice that Clear Lake spends 50 percent of its sales on cost of goods sold while Charlie spends 59 percent.
• Common Size Analysis can also be performed on the balance sheet, the cash flow statement, and the retained earnings statement.

If a Common-size Balance Sheet is prepared for the industry, it facilitates the assessment of the relative financial soundness and helps in understanding the financial strategy of the organisation. The common size version of this income statement divides each line item by revenue, or $100,000. COGS divided by $100,000 is 50%, operating profit divided by $100,000 is 40%, and net income divided by $100,000 is 32%. As we can see, gross margin is 50%, operating margin is 40%, and the net profit margin is 32%–the common size income statement figures.

Common-size income statement vertical analysis – example B

If your debt to equity is 70% to 30%, then your company may be highly-leveraged. In general, common-size is a mechanism that allows you to compare your company to industry standards. It’s imperative that you utilize common-size financial statements to hold your company accountable in what it should be doing as it adjusts to changes in sales volume. Analyzing your financial statements using common-size will give you the information to advise your CEO to make intelligent decisions for the organization as well as to track progress. Company management often analyzes financial statement data to understand how the business is performing relative to where it was historically, and relative to where it wants to go in the future.

• Drop in your raw data for a period of four years, then express that data as a percentage of sales for the income statement, or as a percentage of total assets for the balance sheet.
• For example, in the balance sheet, we can assess the proportion of inventory by dividing the inventory line using total assets as the base item.
• You simply select the appropriate report format and financial statement date, and the system prints the report.
• From the table above, we calculate that cash represents 14.5% of total assets while inventory represents 12%.
• It is also prepared to see the trends of different items of assets, equity and liabilities of a Balance Sheet.

As of your balance sheet date, A/R represents 15 percent of total assets. There isn’t an “industry standard” presentation, but typically, you would display a balance sheet with the actual numbers on the left, and the corresponding percentages on the right. If you’re interested in finding out more about how to create a common-size income statement, then get in touch with the financial experts at GoCardless. Find out how GoCardless can help you with ad hoc payments or recurring payments.

How to create a common-size income statement

Depending on the company’s expectations, this can be noteworthy or unnoteworthy. If the company expected the cash to be 50% of holdings, then this serious deviation must be researched. If the company expected the cash to be 34%, then perhaps this is within the margin of error for their estimation, and nothing needs to be done about it. A Vertical Analysis of Financial Statements of a company, in which the amount of individual items of a Balance Sheet of Statement of Profit & Loss are written, is known as a Common Size Financial Statement.

• Similarly, considerable increases in the value of assets may mean that the company is implementing an expansion or acquisition strategy, potentially making the company attractive to investors.
• The next point of the analysis is the company’s non-operating expenses, such as interest expense.
• Trendy Trainers has also prepared a common-size income statement for the same year.
• Historical comparisons can be made in a time-series analysis to identify such trends.
• Note that although we have compared just two years of data for Charlie and Clear Lake, it is more common to use several years of data to get a more robust view of long-term trends.
• Using Clear Lake Sporting Goods’ current balance sheet, we can see how each line item in its statement is divided by total assets in order to assemble a common-size balance sheet (see Figure 5.22).

With a common size horizontal analysis, you can easily see if, for example, your expenses increased as a percentage of revenue, stayed the same or decreased among different time periods. Generally speaking, a common-size financial statement is a type of analysis of an income statement that expresses each line of the statement as a percentage of sales. In the case of XYZ, Inc., operating profit has dropped from 17% in Year 1 to 7.6% in Year 2. The cost of goods sold dropped, while both selling and administrative expenses and depreciation rose.

Common Size Analysis of Financial Statements

If there are any fixed assets that can be sold, management should consider selling them to lower both the depreciation and interest expense on debt. This should help the company’s common size income statement in Year 3. Common Size https://simple-accounting.org/ Analysis, also known as Vertical Analysis, is used to analyze a company’s financial statement information. This method uses one line item on the statement as a base against which to evaluate all other items in the same statement.

For example, inventory might be a much larger percentage of total assets this year, which could mean the company’s chosen slow-moving merchandise needs to match prices with the competition. Also, common-size balance sheets work very well for comparing a company to its competitors or to an industry standard. This type of analysis is often used when performing due diligence for an acquisition, a valuation or any other financial transaction. Common-size financial statements allow you to compare the financial statements of large companies with the financial statements of smaller companies, because you are comparing percentages instead of dollars.

An Example of Common Size Income Statement Analysis

As a financial leader, you look at financial statements every single day. Sometimes financial statements can appear to be just a list of numbers that are simply there for record keeping. But the true purpose of keeping and updating financial statements is to have information to make better financial decisions.