A firm with a total asset turnover that is lower than industry standard may have



Chapter 6:   Financial Statement Analysis

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1.Determine a firm's total asset turnover (TAT) if its net profit margin (NPM) is 5 percent, total assets are $8 million, and ROI is 8 percent.1.60
2.05
2.50
4.00
2.Felton Farm Supplies, Inc., has an 8 percent return on total assets of $300,000 and a net profit margin of 5 percent. What are its sales?$3,750,000
$480,000
$300,000
$1,500,000
3.Which of the following would NOT improve the current ratio?Borrow short term to finance additional fixed assets.
Issue long-term debt to buy inventory.
Sell common stock to reduce current liabilities.
Sell fixed assets to reduce accounts payable.
4. The gross profit margin is unchanged, but the net profit margin declined over the same period. This could have happened ifcost of goods sold increased relative to sales.
sales increased relative to expenses.
the U.S. Congress increased the tax rate.
dividends were decreased.
5.Palo Alto Industries has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.6 compared with the industry average of 1.4. This means that the companywill not experience any difficulty with its creditors.
has less liquidity than other firms in the industry.
will be viewed as having high creditworthiness.
has greater than average financial risk when compared to other firms in its industry.
6.Kanji Company had sales last year of $265 million, including cash sales of $25 million. If its average collection period was 36 days, its ending accounts receivable balance is closest to         . (Assume a 365-day year.)$26.1 million
$23.7 million
$7.4 million
$18.7 million
7.A company can improve (lower) its debt-to-total assets ratio by doing which of the following?Borrow more.
Shift short-term to long-term debt.
Shift long-term to short-term debt.
Sell common stock.
8.Which of the following statements (in general) is correct?A low receivables turnover is desirable.
The lower the total debt-to-equity ratio, the lower the financial risk for a firm.
An increase in net profit margin with no change in sales or assets means a poor ROI.
The higher the tax rate for a firm, the lower the interest coverage ratio.
9.Retained earnings for the "base year" equals 100.0 percent. You must be looking ata common-size balance sheet.
a common-size income statement.
an indexed balance sheet.
an indexed income statement.
10.Krisle and Kringle's debt-to-total assets (D/TA) ratio is .4. What is its debt-to-equity (D/E) ratio?.2
.6
.667
.333
11.A firm's operating cycle is equal to its inventory turnover in days (ITD)plus its receivable turnover in days (RTD).
minus its RTD.
plus its RTD minus its payable turnover in days (PTD).
minus its RTD minus its PTD.
12.When doing an "index analysis," we should expect that changes in a number of the firm's current asset and liabilities accounts (e.g., cash, accounts receivable, and accounts payable) would move roughly together with          for a normal, well-run company.net sales
cost of goods sold
earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT)
earnings before taxes (EBT)
The following item is NEW to the 13th edition.

13.The process of convergence of accounting standards around the world aims to

         .narrow or remove national accounting differences
move non-US accounting standards towards US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US GAAP)
create one set of rules-based accounting standards for all countries

A firm with a total asset turnover that is lower than industry standard may have
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A firm with a total asset turnover that is lower than industry standard may have

A ratio that measures how efficiently a company uses its assets to generate sales

What is the Asset Turnover Ratio?

The asset turnover ratio, also known as the total asset turnover ratio, measures the efficiency with which a company uses its assets to produce sales. The asset turnover ratio formula is equal to net sales divided by the total or average assets of a company. A company with a high asset turnover ratio operates more efficiently as compared to competitors with a lower ratio.

Formula for Asset Turnover Ratio

The formula for the asset turnover ratio is as follows:

A firm with a total asset turnover that is lower than industry standard may have

Where:

  • Net sales are the amount of revenue generated after deducting sales returns, sales discounts, and sales allowances.
  • Average total assets are the average of aggregate assets at year-end of the current or preceding fiscal year. Note: an analyst may use either average or end-of-period assets.

Practical Example

Company A reported beginning total assets of $199,500 and ending total assets of $199,203. Over the same period, the company generated sales of $325,300 with sales returns of $15,000.

The asset turnover ratio for Company A is calculated as follows:

A firm with a total asset turnover that is lower than industry standard may have

Therefore, for every dollar in total assets, Company A generated $1.5565 in sales.

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Comparisons of Ratios

Consider four hypothetical companies: Company A, Company B, Company C, and Company D. Companies A and B operate in the fast-food industry, while companies C and D operate in the telecommunications industry:

A firm with a total asset turnover that is lower than industry standard may have

The asset turnover ratio for each company is calculated as net sales divided by average total assets.

Ratio comparisons across markedly different industries do not provide a good insight into how well a company is doing. For example, it would be incorrect to compare the ratios of Company A to that of Company C, as they operate in different industries.

It is only appropriate to compare the asset turnover ratio of companies operating in the same industry. We can see that Company B operates more efficiently than Company A. This may indicate that Company A is experiencing poor sales or that its fixed assets are not being utilized to their full capacity.

Interpretation of the Asset Turnover Ratio

The ratio measures the efficiency of how well a company uses assets to produce sales. A higher ratio is favorable, as it indicates a more efficient use of assets. Conversely, a lower ratio indicates the company is not using its assets as efficiently. This might be due to excess production capacity, poor collection methods, or poor inventory management.

The benchmark asset turnover ratio can vary greatly depending on the industry. Industries with low profit margins tend to generate a higher ratio and capital-intensive industries tend to report a lower ratio.

Key Takeaways

  • The asset turnover ratio measures is an efficiency ratio that measures how profitably a company uses its assets to produce sales.
  • Comparing the ratios of companies in different industries is not appropriate, as industries vary in capital intensiveness.
  • A higher ratio is generally favorable, as it indicates an efficient use of assets.
  • A lower ratio indicates poor efficiency, which may be due to poor utilization of fixed assets, poor collection methods, or poor inventory management.

Video Explanation of Asset Turnover Ratio

Watch this short video to quickly understand the definition, formula, and application of this financial metric.

Additional Resources

Thank you for reading CFI’s guide to the asset turnover ratio. To help you advance your career in the financial services industry, check out the following additional CFI resources:

  • Current Assets
  • Analysis of Financial Statements
  • Comparable Company Analysis
  • Financial Analysis Ratios Glossary
  • See all accounting resources

What does a low total asset turnover mean?

The higher the asset turnover ratio, the more efficient a company is at generating revenue from its assets. Conversely, if a company has a low asset turnover ratio, it indicates it is not efficiently using its assets to generate sales.

What could have led to a fixed asset turnover ratio lower than the industry average?

A low fixed asset turnover ratio indicates that a business is over-invested in fixed assets. A low ratio may also indicate that a business needs to issue new products to revive its sales. Alternatively, it may have made a large investment in fixed assets, with a time delay before the new assets start to generate sales.

Why would a company have low asset turnover?

The asset turnover ratio can be calculated by dividing the net sales value by the average of total assets. Generally, a low asset turnover ratio suggests problems with surplus production capacity, poor inventory management and bad tax collection methods.

Does a low asset turnover indicate a weak company?

A low asset turnover ratio does not indicate a weak corporation. Asset turnover is only one component of operating performance. The other component is profitability. Companies use different strategies to generate profits.