Task:

Use accounting information (Financial Statements) for Financial Analysis of assigned

firm. Comment on financial position of assigned firm after reviewing ratios in time series
and cross-sectional format.

Details:
Financial analysis helps managers with efficiency analysis and identification of problem
areas within the firm. Also, it helps managers identify strengths on which the firm should
build. Externally, financial analysis is useful for credit managers evaluating loan requests
and investors considering security purchases.

How does the financial manager know that he or she is moving the company in the right
direction, and how do investors in the firms shares evaluate the performance of the
managers? The stakeholders look at the firms financial statements for answers to these
and other questions. Firm managers use accounting information to help them manage the
firm. Investors and creditors use accounting information to evaluate the firm.

1. Identifying company weakness and strengths

When ratios raise questions. For example, suppose a firm discovers it has a falling profit
margin. It has also found that its inventory is not selling as quickly as in the past. You have
a goal of attempting to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the firm.

A firm that seems to be earning profits but is constantly short of cash may turn to
financial analysis to identify why this is occurring. Similarly a falling inventory turnover
ratios and return on equity ratios told that it was not able to compete successfully with
peers.

To identify these issues review functions; company news CN <Go> , document

search DS <Go> , Analyst Recommendations ANR <Go> and review related
ratios from financial analysis FA <Go>.
 2. Cross-Sectional Analysis

Most financial ratios mean little when viewed in isolation. Cross-sectional analysis is the
comparison of one firm to other similar firms. A cross- section of an industry and market
are used as a comparison for the firms numbers. There are a variety of sources of cross-
sectional information.

ICS<Go> Industry classification browser (a comprehensive industry reference tool to

support top-down analysis of industry). ICS<Go> function will provide you aggregate
statistics of Market Capitalization, Price/Earnings, Total revenue and Revenue
growth.

PCLS<Go> Custom Sector classification (to create custom classification according to

your requirement).

RVR<Go> Relative Value Ranking

RVR allows you to perform fundamental ratio benchmarking of your company's performance against a
relative index and peer group(s), or display debt and credit ratio benchmarking against the relative index
and peer group(s) and/or edit peer groups.
RVR provides pre-defined templates to enable rapid understanding of key analysis metrics ,including
valuation, growth, balance sheet, cash flow, profitability, and risk/return. You can also use RVR to edit
selected peer groups to compare different groups.

EQRV<Go> Equity Relative Valuation

EQRV allows you to evaluate whether a company is fairly valued relative to a group of its peers, given its
historical performance on selected multiples as compared to the group. You can also use EQRV to analyze
a company's multiples versus its standalone history. You can also choose from a menu of data sources that
allow you to benchmark your security against different sets of comparable companies, and use this analysis
to gauge the performance trends of the selected company against its competitors.

RV<Go> Relative Valuation

RV allows you to perform relative valuation analysis on a selected equity, so you can benchmark company
performance against comparable companies in the same industry. You can choose between the Bloomberg
Intelligence unit or Bloomberg Industry Classification Standard (BICS) as data sources for valuation peer
groups, so you can customize the groups used for analysis against the selected equity. You can also choose
from a menu of data sources that allow you to benchmark your security against different sets of comparable
companies, and use this analysis to gauge the performance trends of the selected equity against its
competitors.
 3. Time-Series Analysis
Another equally important method of financial analysis is time-series analysis , which involves
comparing the firms current performance to prior periods. This method allows the analyst to
identify trends, changes over time that are more or less consistent in one direction. Unless the firm
has undergone some type of major restructuring, prior period numbers are a near perfect
comparison against todays figures.

FA<Go> Financial Analysis

FA provides comprehensive financial information for a company, including historical fundamental

data and future estimates. FA allows you to identify trends, gain data transparency, and compare
financial statements.
You are able to create and edit custom templates within FA, so you can monitor the information
you want to see in your desired format.