What is a common size financial statement?

Financial statements are prepared for organisations or businesses to know about the state of the business at that time or period. For an organisation or a business owner, the importance of financial statements is defined by its interpretation and analysis.

Importance of financial statements is different for different individuals in an organisation. For a manager, it would be the efficiency of the operations, and for a stockholder, it will be related to the earnings and profits of the company.

What is Common Size Statement?

Common size statement is a form of analysis and interpretation of the financial statement. It is also known as vertical analysis. This method analyses financial statements by taking into consideration each of the line items as a percentage of the base amount for that particular accounting period.

Common size statements are not any kind of financial ratios but are a rather easy way to express financial statements, which makes it easier to analyse those statements.

Common size statements are always expressed in the form of percentages. Therefore, such statements are also called 100 per cent statements or component percentage statements as all the individual items are taken as a percentage of 100.

There are two types of common size statements:

1. Common size income statement
2. Common size balance sheet

1. Common Size Income Statement

This is one type of common size statement where the sales is taken as the base for all calculations. Therefore, the calculation of each line item will take into account the sales as a base, and each item will be expressed as a percentage of the sales.

Use of Common Size Income Statement

It helps the business owner in understanding the following points

1. Whether profits are showing an increase or decrease in relation to the sales obtained.
2. Percentage change in cost of goods that were sold during the accounting period.
3. Variation that might have occurred in expense.
4. If the increase in retained earnings is in proportion to the increase in profit of the business.
5. Helps to compare income statements of two or more periods.
6. Recognises the changes happening in the financial statements of the organisation, which will help investors in making decisions about investing in the business.

2. Common Size Balance Sheet:

A common size balance sheet is a statement in which balance sheet items are being calculated as the ratio of each asset in relation to the total assets. For the liabilities, each liability is being calculated as a ratio of the total liabilities.

Common size balance sheets can be used for comparing companies that differ in size. The comparison of such figures for the different periods is not found to be that useful because the total figures seem to be affected by a number of factors.

Standard values for various assets cannot be established by this method as the trends of the figures cannot be studied and may not give proper results.

Common Size Income Statement Format

The common size income statement format is as follows:

Preparing Common Size Balance Sheet

(1) Take the total of assets or liabilities as 100.

(2) Each individual asset is expressed as a percentage of the total assets, i.e., 100 and different liabilities are also calculated as per total liabilities. For example, suppose total assets are around Rs. 4 lakhs, and inventory value is Rs. 1 lakh. In that case, it will be counted as 25% of the total assets.

Limitations of Common Size Statement

Following are the limitations discussed

1. It is not helpful in the decision-making process as it does not have any approved benchmark.
2. For a business that is impacted by fluctuations due to seasonality, it can be misleading.

This concludes the topic of the Common Size Statement, which will be helpful for the students in getting a better understanding of the concept. For more such interesting concepts, stay tuned to BYJU’S.

What is the Common Size Statement?

Common Size of financial statements is a technique used to identify where a company has applied its resources and in what proportions those resources are distributed among the various balance sheet and income statement accounts. The analysis determines the relative weight of each account and its share in asset resources or revenue generation.

In the common size, each element of financial statements (Income Statement and Balance sheet) is shown as a percentage of another item. In the case of the Income Statement, each element of income and expenditure is defined as a percentage of the total sales. The assets, liabilities, and share capital is represented as a percentage of total assets.

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For eg:
Source: Common Size Statement (wallstreetmojo.com)

There are two types of Common Size Statements – a) Balance Sheet & b) Income Statement

#1 – Common Size Statement of Balance Sheet

As an example of common size, let us take a balance sheet of the Tata group companies as of 30.09.2016.

If we only look at the above balance sheet, it doesn’t make much sense.

Let me convert every element of this balance sheet as a percentage of “Total,” which is 119,020 (common size of the balance sheet). Then the balance sheet will appear as follows –

Now have a look at the above balance sheet. Looks much more intuitive, right? When we perform a common size, the data provides financial insights.

In this case, for making the common size of the Balance SheetThe term "common size balance sheet" refers to a percentage analysis of balance sheet items based on a common figure, with each item presented as an easy-to-compare percentage. For example, each asset is expressed as a percentage of total assets, and each liability is expressed as a percentage of total liabilities.read more, we converted all the elements of the balance sheet as a percentage of the total. –

On a standalone basis, we can derive the following conclusions from the balance sheet:

• Reserves & surplus, which is 58.3%, is the highest portion. The company has a massive amount of reserves.
• This company’s debt to equity ratioThe debt to equity ratio is a representation of the company's capital structure that determines the proportion of external liabilities to the shareholders' equity. It helps the investors determine the organization's leverage position and risk level. read more  is (19.6÷1) = 0.33, which is low. That means that the company is not using enough debt. More debt brings financial leverageFinancial Leverage Ratio measures the impact of debt on the Company’s overall profitability. Moreover, high & low ratio implies high & low fixed business investment cost, respectively. read more and tax savings.
• The majority of reserves and a surplusReserves and Surplus is the amount kept aside from the profits that are to be used either for the business or for the shareholders to pay out dividends. Reserves and surplus is reflected under shareholders funds in the balance sheet.read more portion are invested in non-current investments.
• Most of the long-term borrowings are invested in fixed assetsFixed assets are assets that are held for the long term and are not expected to be converted into cash in a short period of time. Plant and machinery, land and buildings, furniture, computers, copyright, and vehicles are all examples.read more.
• The company predominantly invested in Noncurrent investments rather than current investments.
• The company is a considerable capital intensiveCapital intensive refers to those industries or companies that require significant upfront capital investments in machinery, plant & equipment to produce goods or services in high volumes and maintain higher levels of profit margins and return on investments. Examples include oil & gas, automobiles, real estate, metals & mining.read more company as an investment in non-current assets (Especially fixed assets is very high, which is nearly 42.5%)
• Company trade receivables are 0.7%, whereas trade payables are 5.6%. It means that the company is not giving much credit to debtors, whereas it is enjoying the credit period from its creditors.

As seen above, the common size statement can give you a lot of better insights into the company’s financial position than when you look at the same otherwise.

Common Size statements of Balance Sheet Over different periods

In continuation of the above common size example, let us now compare two-year balance sheets of the same company.

Let us convert the same into percentage terms and derive some conclusions.

After converting the two years balance sheets, we can derive that.

• Reserves marginally increased by 2% compared to 2015. It means profitabilityProfitability refers to a company's ability to generate revenue and maximize profit above its expenditure and operational costs. It is measured using specific ratios such as gross profit margin, EBITDA, and net profit margin. It aids investors in analyzing the company's performance.read more must have increased.
• Long-term borrowings have decreased by 1%; some marginal repayments of loans must have happened.
• There is an increase in short-term borrowings by 1.7%.
• Inventory levels remained almost the same.
• There is a marginal increase in trade receivablesTrade receivable is the amount owed to the business or company by its customers. It is also known as account receivables and is represented as current liabilities in balance sheet.read more.
• The share capitalShare capital refers to the funds raised by an organization by issuing the company's initial public offerings, common shares or preference stocks to the public. It appears as the owner's or shareholders' equity on the corporate balance sheet's liability side.read more remained the same, which means there is no fresh issuance of capital.

#2 – Common Size Statement of Income Statement

Let’s now perform the common size of the Income StatementCommon Size Income Statement is a Company’s financial statement that presents every listed line item as a percentage of total revenue or sales. Moreover, it helps analyze the contribution of every item towards the profitability of the Company. read more for different periods and analyze the same on the stand-alone period basis and for different years. Following is the P&L account of a Tata group company.

A plane looking at the above Income Statement might be confusing. So, let’s convert the same as a percentage of sales or Total income from operations. (Common Size of the Income Statement)

The following conclusions can be derived after converting the same common-size financial statements and comparing them over different periods.

• There is a reduction in the purchase of finished, semi-finished steel and other products as the percentage fell from 3.3% in Dec 2015 to 1.4% in Dec 2016.
• Raw material consumption at ~23% remains as per the past trend.
• Employee cost reduced from 11% in Dec 2015 to 8.5% in Dec 2016
• Power cost too reduced from 6% to 5% in Dec 2016
• Total expenses reduced considerably from 91.5% in Dec 2015 to 82.2% in Dec 2016
• Income Tax expense increased three times from 1.6% in Dec 2015 to 4.2% in Dec 2016

The following conclusions can be derived on a standalone basis (i.e., by analyzing a single period).

• Raw material contributes to being a high cost in the process of manufacture, which is nearly 23% of every sale.
• The net profit margin of Dec 2016 period is 8.5%
• Since PBT is 12.7% and tax expense is 4.2% of sales, the company tax rate is around 30%
• The company has more closing stockClosing stock or inventory is the amount that a company still has on its hand at the end of a financial period. It may include products getting processed or are produced but not sold. Raw materials, work in progress, and final goods are all included on a broad level.read more than opening stock as Changes in inventories for Dec 2016 period are negative.

Common Size Statement of Colgate’s Income Statement

• In Colgate, we note that the gross profit marginProfit Margin is a metric that the management, financial analysts, & investors use to measure the profitability of a business relative to its sales. It is determined as the ratio of Generated Profit Amount to the Generated Revenue Amount. read more is in the range of 56%-59%.
• Selling General and administrative expensesSelling, general and administrative (SG&A) expense includes all the expenses incurred in the selling of the products of the company whether direct or indirect along with the entire general and the administrative expenses during an accounting period under consideration such as advertisement expenses, sales promotion expenses, marketing salaries, etc.read more decreased from 36.1% in 2007 to 34.1% in the year ending 2015.
• Operating income dropped significantly in 2015.
• Net income decreased substantially to less than 10%.
• Effective tax ratesEffective tax rate determines the average taxation rate for a corporation or an individual. For both, there is a similar formula only with variation in considering variables. The effective tax rate formula for corporation = Total tax expense / EBTread more jumped to 44% in 2015. Between 2008 to 2014, it was in the range of 32-33%.

Common Size Statement of Colgate’s Balance Sheet

• Cash and Cash equivalentsCash and Cash Equivalents are assets that are short-term and highly liquid investments that can be readily converted into cash and have a low risk of price fluctuation.  Cash and paper money, US Treasury bills, undeposited receipts, and Money Market funds are its examples. They are normally found as a line item on the top of the balance sheet asset. read more increased from 4.2% in 2007 to 8.1% of the total assets.
• Receivables decreased from 16.6% in 2007 to 11.9% in 2015.
• Inventories decreased from 11.6% to 9.9% overall.
• Other current assets increased from 3.3% to 6.7% of the total assets over the last 9 years.
• On the liabilities side, Accounts payableAccounts payable is the amount due by a business to its suppliers or vendors for the purchase of products or services. It is categorized as current liabilities on the balance sheet and must be satisfied within an accounting period.read more currently stands at 9.3% of the total assets.
• There has been a significant jump in the Long Term DebtLong-term debt is the debt taken by the company that gets due or is payable after one year on the date of the balance sheet. It is recorded on the liabilities side of the company's balance sheet as the non-current liability.read more to 52,4% in 2015.
• Non controlling interests has also increased over the period of 9 years and is now at 2.1%

Advantages

• Profit statements and other financial reports of different companies can be easily compared even though they are of different sizes. For example, the Balance sheet of Apple Inc and Samsung can be easily comparable after converting both into percentage terms.
• Annual or quarterly changes in the elements can be easily compared within one company. For example, the Income statementThe income statement is one of the company's financial reports that summarizes all of the company's revenues and expenses over time in order to determine the company's profit or loss and measure its business activity over time based on user requirements.read more of Apple Inc of different years can be comparable if the same is converted into a percentage. It gives a perfect indication of how much sales revenueSales revenue refers to the income generated by any business entity by selling its goods or providing its services during the normal course of its operations. It is reported annually, quarterly or monthly as the case may be in the business entity's income statement/profit & loss account.read more improved or declined. How much does each expense move? How much depreciation expense increased or decreased.
• Promotes effective management decision making;

Common Size Statement Video

Recommended Articles

This article has been a guide to what Common Size Statements are and their meaning. Here we discuss the common size of the balance sheet and income statement and practical examples of Tata and Colgate. You may learn more about Financial Analysis from the following articles –

• Fund Flow Statement Format
• Disclosure Statement Examples
• Common Size Income Statement Format
• Vertical Analysis of Income Statement