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Annual Statement Studies® FAQs
If you have additional questions about the content of the Annual Statement Studies®, please contact the Annual Statement Studies® Department by e-mail at studies@rmahq.org.
General
- Can I reproduce the data?
- Do I need to obtain a copyright or license agreement?
- Are data available on industries not listed as being in our database?
- Are non-U.S. companies included?
- Can RMA provide the names of the companies included in the database?
- Are regional data available?
- How does someone unfamiliar with financial statement analysis begin to interpret the data in the Annual Statement Studies®
- What are the fiscal closing dates of the data included in the current database?
- How many industries (NAICS codes) are in the 2009–10 edition of the Annual Statement Studies®: Financial Ratio Benchmarks and Annual Statement Studies®: Industry Default Probabilities?
- How can I get my industry represented in the Statement Studies database?
- Are the companies represented in the statement studies public or nonpublic?
- How many financial statements were used for this industry?
- How many financial statements were collected for the 2009–10 edition?
- Where does RMA get the data?
- What does the "M" mean at the bottom of the database presentation?
- What is the difference between industries found in the construction-general and construction-percentage of completion section?
- How do I determine which NAICS code to use for a particular industry?
- When will RMA's Annual Statement Studies begin using the 2007 NAICS codes?
Balance Sheet
- Are further breakdowns of the data available from RMA?
- How do I interpret the bold figures at the bottom of the page?
- What is tangible net worth?
Income Statement
- Are further breakdowns of the data available from RMA?
- Does RMA have more detailed expense data besides that which appear in the database?
- How do I interpret the bold figures at the bottom of the page?
- What does EBIT mean?
- What is Cost of Goods Sold?
- Since there is no Cost of Goods Sold for Services, what value is the best alternative?
Ratios
- What do the bold figures (shown in brackets in software) to the left of the Sales/Receivables, Cost of Sales/Inventory, and Cost of Sales/Payables ratios mean?
- What do the three figures given for each ratio represent?
- What is included in the ratio % Officers', Directors', Owners' Comp/Sales? How many officers, etc., does it represent? Why is it arrayed from low to high?
- What is the meaning of the figure that sometimes appears to the left of the median and quartiles?
- How many ratios are included?
- What does the "NM" mean for the ratio values?
- What does the "UND" mean for the ratio values?
General
- Can I reproduce the data?
No. Regardless of the number of copies purchased, RMA holds the copyright to the Annual Statement Studies® data. No reproduction is permitted without written permission from RMA. To obtain permission, please fax full details on the proposed usage of the database to the Statement Studies Department at 215-446-4101 or e-mail the details to studies@rmahq.org.
- Do I need to obtain a copyright or license agreement?
- Copyright: You will need copyright permission to copy, quote, reproduce, replicate, disseminate, or distribute this product or any portion thereof. Please e-mail studies@rmahq.org with the proposed usage, in order to obtain the copyright line to include in your work.
- License agreement: If data is going to be used with or incorporated into other products that will in turn be used internally or sold to others—this typically refers to software-oriented or derived products—a license agreement will need to be executed. Requests for the appropriate royalty agreement, including full details on the proposed usage, should be faxed to the Statement Studies Department at 215-446-4101 or e-mailed to studies@rmahq.org. A license is required for each edition of our publications.
- License to incorporate data: If data will be used within reports, or used in consultative type engagements, e.g., business valuation reports, business plans, comparative performance reports, etc., a license agreement must be executed. To obtain a copy of the license agreement, please click here. The completed license agreement should be faxed to the Statement Studies Department at 215-446-4101.
- Are data available on industries not listed as being in our database?
No, because we simply do not have the industry data or the sample size is too small. Generally, when there are fewer than 30 financial statements, the composite data are not shown because such a small sample is not considered representative and could be misleading.
- Are non-U.S. companies included?
The vast majority of companies included in the database are U.S. based; however, some overseas subsidiaries' data may be included as a function of their financial reporting process.
- Can RMA provide the names of the companies included in the database?
No. The statements which go into producing the composites are supplied by RMA member institutions. They represent the financials on their commercial customers and prospects. The names of the individual entities are not known to RMA; they are removed prior to delivering the data to RMA for confidentiality purposes.
- Are regional data available?
Yes, but only in eStatement StudiesSM.
- How does someone unfamiliar with financial statement analysis begin to interpret the data in the Annual Statement Studies®?
A good beginning is to thoroughly read the Introduction and Definition of Ratios section. Remaining questions should be directed to the Statement Studies Department at studies@rmahq.org.
- What are the fiscal closing dates of the data included in the current database?
April 1, 2008, through March 31, 2009. We also provide a breakdown of the number of statements falling within two ranges of those parameters. For example, 16 (4/1-9/30/08) means that 16 statements with fiscal dates between April 1 and September 30, 2008, make up part of the sample. The number of statements with fiscal dates falling between October 1, 2008, and March 31, 2009, are shown in the same manner.
- How many industries (NAICS codes) are in the 2009–10 edition of the Annual Statement Studies®: Financial Ratio Benchmarks and Annual Statement Studies®: Industry Default Probabilities?
Seven hundred sixty-six (766) industries appear in the 2009–10 Financial Ratio Benchmarks, and 686 are represented in the Industry Default Probabilities. If you do not know the precise NAICS code for your industry, contact the Census Bureau directly at 1-888-75NAICS or via e-mail at naics@census.gov. You can also visit their website at: http://www.census.gov/epcd/www/naics.html.
- How can I get my industry represented in the Statement Studies database?
All data submissions come from our member institutions. Encourage your respective lending institution to forward the appropriate data to RMA during our annual submissions drive. If interested, please send an e-mail to studies@rmahq.org and we will include your name in our submission campaign correspondence.
- Are the companies represented in the statement studies public or nonpublic?
Both, but the vast majority are nonpublic companies.
- How many financial statements were used for this industry?
The number of statements used is found in the statement study for that industry; it is listed next to "Number of Statements," under the most recent year in "Comparative Historical Data."
- How many financial statements were collected for the 2009–10 edition?
More than 285,000 statements were collected for the 2009–10 edition.
- Where does RMA get the data?
The data come from the financial statements of small and medium-size businesses, provided to our member institutions.
- What does the "M" mean at the bottom of the database presentation?
M = $thousand MM = $million
- What is the difference between industries found in the construction-general and construction-percentage of completion section?
A firm can elect to report its financial statements using either of these accounting methods. The companies reported in each industry appear only in one of these sections, not in both.
- How do I determine which NAICS code to use for a particular industry?
Visit the following link to determine the correct NAICS code for your industry: http://www.census.gov/eos/www/naics/
- When will RMA's Annual Statement Studies begin using the 2007 NAICS codes?
The 2009–10 edition of the Annual Statement Studies will continue to reflect the 2007 NAICS code structure, first used in the 2008-09 edition.
Balance Sheet
- Are further breakdowns of the data available from RMA?
No, the Statement Studies data are not broken down for expenses, contra assets, etc.
- How do I interpret the bold figures at the bottom of the page?
The bold figures represent the total dollar amount of net sales (or contractor revenues) and total assets for all companies included in that size column of data. These data are provided to allow recasting the common size statements into dollar amounts. To do this, divide the number at the bottom of the page by the number of statements in that size category. Then multiply the result by the percentages in the common size statement.
- What is tangible net worth?
Net worth minus intangibles.
Income Statement
- Are further breakdowns of the data available from RMA?
No, the Statement Studies data are not broken down for expenses, contra assets, etc.
- Does RMA have more detailed expense data besides that which appear in the database?
No, the Statement Studies data are not broken down for expenses, contra assets, etc.
- How do I interpret the bold figures at the bottom of the page?
The bold figures represent the total dollar amount of net sales (or contractor revenues) and total assets for all companies included in that size column of data. These data are provided to allow recasting the common size statements into dollar amounts. To do this, divide the number at the bottom of the page by the number of statements in that size category. Then multiply the result by the percentages in the common size statement.
- What does EBIT mean?
Earnings before interest and taxes.
- What is Cost of Goods Sold?
Net Sales minus Gross Profit. Traditionally, only retail and manufacturing sectors have Cost of Goods Sold.
- Since there is no Cost of Goods Sold for Services, what value is the best alternative?
Operating Expenses
Ratios
- What do the bold figures—shown in brackets—to the left of the Sales/Receivables, Cost of Sales/Inventory, and Cost of Sales/Payables ratios mean?
These figures represent the Days' Receivables, Days' Inventory, and Days' Payables figures, respectively. Full details are included with the Definition of Ratios that accompanies the Statement Studies database.
- What do the three figures given for each ratio represent?
The upper, median, and lower quartiles. Full details appear in the Definition of Ratios.
- What is included in the ratio % Officers', Directors', Owners' Comp/Sales? How many officers, etc., does it represent? Why is it arrayed from low to high?
Included here are total salaries, bonuses, commissions, and other monetary remuneration to all officers, directors, and/or owners of the firm during the year covered by the statement. It also includes drawings of partners and proprietors. RMA has no way of determining how many officers, etc., are included in the data reported to us for each individual company. RMA has chosen to array these values in a conservative manner, from the lowest to the highest value.
- What is the meaning of the figure that sometimes appears to the left of the median and quartiles?
This figure indicates the sample size used to calculate that particular ratio when the sample size differs from that indicated at the top of the page.
- How many ratios are included?
There are 19 commonly used ratios that help you determine the liquidity of all the businesses contained in this year's edition.
- What does the NM mean for the ratio values?
This may occasionally appear as a quartile or median for the ratios sales/working capital, debt/worth, and fixed/worth. It stands for no meaning in cases where the dispersion is so small that any interpretation is meaningless.
- What does the UND mean for the ratio values?
This stands for undefined, the result of the denominator in a ratio calculation approaching zero.
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