Tips on Balance Sheet and Financial Ratios Research

Selecting a Segment: Industry, Small Business or Startup?

1. Balance sheet benchmarks and financial ratios can vary widely within an industry (but do not always) depending on the size and maturity of the analyzed pool of firms.

2. For that reason, the “best” benchmarking process should align with the character of your firm. BizMiner Industry Financial Profiles are offered in several versions: by various sales class sizes (corporate reporting format) and for small businesses. The Profit & Loss series displays Income-Expense statements, selected ratios, monthly and annual cash flows for startups and Sole Proprietorships within the industry.

3. The Industry Financial series aggregates all corporations in the analysis pool in that sales class and business classification. Small Business Financial Analysis Profiles restrict coverage to single-site S-Corporations firms with fewer than 35 employees. Startup Profit & Loss Profiles analyze firms which have been in operations for one year or less. Sole Proprietorship Profit & Loss Profiles apply data from single site sole proprietorships in the selected industry.

4. In general, we recommend Industry Financial and Profit & Loss-Cash Flow Profiles which apply data from at least 10 firms - the more the better. New firms should consider the Small Business Profile in addition to (or rather than) the Startup Cash Flow Profile due to the (normally) larger size of the analysis pool and the more detailed balance sheet metrics and ratios that are available. A very small analysis pool is more prone to distortion caused by a handful of very large or very small firms.

BizMiner's 75,000 Financial Analysis and Profit & Loss Profiles are available online in the above versions. Our 2.5 million online Market Research Reports are available for over 17,000 industry segments. Market Research Reports are available in both national and local versions covering each of the states and over 250 US metropolitan areas.

Available online at www.bizminer.com