Subject
Through D&B's Key Business Ratios, you can assess your firm's strengths and
weaknesses as compared to those of competing businesses or your entire industry.
Use this information to investigate potential problem areas and what changes
you might employ to improve your net profit. In addition, comparing changes in
a business' ratios over time can highlight improvements in performance or problem
areas that require attention.
Using D&B's Financial Information Database, consisting of financial statements of U.S. corporations, partnerships, and proprietorships, you can calculate key business ratios that identify key relationships between financial data and allow you to monitor the state of your business.
Key business ratios provide you with deeper insight as to the true meaning of the figures on your financial statements by comparing items rather than a direct reading of the financial figures. The 14 key business ratios cover all critical areas of business performance—solvency, efficiency and profitability. They are broken down into median figures, with upper and lower quartiles, providing you with a more refined set of figures to work with. These ratios provide a profound and well-documented insight into all aspects for everyone involved in the financial workings of a business—business executives and managers, credit executives, bankers, lenders, investors, academicians and students.
Ratios are arranged by Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) Codes—a four-digit number that classifies business establishments by defining the industries in which they do business. These codes make it easy to compare a business' operating results with those of specific competitors or the industry as a whole.
Based on D&B's database activity:
Sources
D&B's global database of more than 60 million global companies covers
the spectrum from new start-up companies to small businesses (less than eight
employees) to minority and women-owned companies to the "blue chip" companies
worldwide. It gathers business information in 209 countries around the world,
covering 186 currencies.
Provider
D&B.
Help
Available from within the database and at and at http://kbr.dnb.com/help/KBR_Help_0303.htm. A Quick Reference Guide is available at http://kbr.dnb.com/help/KBR_Quick_Ref_Guide_0103.pdf .
Access
NSU faculty, students and staff: On campus and remote access.
Registered Broward patrons: On campus and remote access.
Registered NSU Alumni: On campus and remote access.
General Public: Walk in access within the library.
Simultaneous users: Five.
Updated: 01/23/2008.