Financial Analysis

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 Financial Analysis Profiles are offered in three versions: industries, small businesses within the industry, and startups within the industry.

3. The Industry version aggregates all firms in the analysis pool for that business classification. Small Business Financial Analysis Profiles restrict coverage to single-site firms with fewer than 25 employees. Startup versions analyze firms which have been in operations for one year or less. Startups Profiles are also limited to firms with fewer than 500 employees and less than $25 million sales.

4. In general, new firms should consider the Small Business rather than the Startup Financial Analysis version due to the (normally) larger size of the analysis pool. A small analysis pool is more prone to distortion caused by a handful of very large or very small firms. Almost all startups are also small businesses and therefore fall within the BizMiner small business parameters.

5. Since Small Business and Startup balance sheet percentages and financial ratios overlap, it is usually not necessary to purchase both versions. A Marketing Research Profile for the same industry will usually be a better second profile choice, providing richer, unduplicated trend analysis on both small business and startup segments within an industry.

BizMiner's 30,000 Financial Analysis Profiles are available in Industry, Small Business and Startup versions. Our 900,000 online Marketing Research Profiles are available for over 15,000 industry groups. Marketing Research Reports are available in both national and local versions covering over 250 US metropolitan areas.

Available online at www.bizminer.com

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