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Common-Size Financial Analysis

Building and Using Common-Size Financial Statements

Created byRob Stephensworkspace_premiumBest Instructor
BeginnerUpdated May 2, 2024

What You'll Learn

  • check_circleIdentify the two types of common-size analysis
  • check_circleRecall the formulas for common-size analysis
  • check_circleRecall how to build projections with common-size analysis

About This Course

Common-size analysis is a powerful tool for financial analysis and decision-making. Common-size analysis is a form of ratio or metric analysis that states financial statement amounts as percentages of a base amount.

Common-size analysis is useful for comparing the financial performance and position of different companies, especially those of different sizes. It also helps to identify trends and patterns over time within a company and across entities. This is very useful for business environmental analysis, peer benchmarking, and building financial projections.

You may already do some forms of common-size analysis but aren't aware of all the possibilities of it.

You'll learn:

  • How to build common-size financial statements
  • Ways to perform common-size financial analysis
  • Sources for common-size financial statements
  • How to build more accurate financial projections faster and easier with common-size analysis

You'll see examples of analysis and methods I've used in my career, as well as ideas on other ways you may be able to use common-size analysis. 

Course Content

3 activities • 7 videos • duration: 1h 3m

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Common-Size Financial Analysis - Part 13 videos • 1 quiz • 37 min
  • videocamWhat is Common Size Financial Analysis?
    Duration 4:46
  • videocamCommon Size Financial Statements
    Duration 14:04
  • videocamInternal and External Analysis
    Duration 19:04
  • quizReview Questions #1
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Common-Size Financial Analysis - Part 24 videos • 1 quiz • 25 min
add
Final Assessment1 quiz

Your Instructor

Rob Stephens

Founder of CFO Perspective

menu_book34 courses
star5,078 reviews

Rob Stephens is the Founder of CFO Perspective, which provides continuing education courses for CPAs and financial management courses for business advisors and staff. He has been quoted in Forbes, U.S. News and World Report, Bloomberg Businessweek, and many other news sources. He is also the author of Key Performance Indicators and KPI Dashboards. Rob has a 30-year career that includes serving as a CFO, Director of Operations, and SVP of Finance. Rob is an adjunct instructor for the MBA program at Gonzaga University. Rob holds a Masters of Science in Personal Financial Planning and a Graduate Certificate in Financial Therapy from Kansas State University. He received a B.A. in Business Administration from the University of Washington.

Credit Information

Is this course eligible for my CPD requirements as a Canadian CPA?

Provincial regulators of CPAs in Canada do not require that independent providers of CPD be approved to offer courses. Instead, individual CPAs are responsible for assessing whether a CPD activity meets their requirements, and may take activities from any source provided those requirements are met.

Every course offered on LearnFormula is delivered by a qualified subject matter expert or learning organization, and advances learning objectives that are relevant to the responsibilities or professional competencies of Canadian CPAs. All activities on LearnFormula are quantifiable in terms of hours, and are also verifiable, in that users receive documented evidence of their attendance via a certificate of completion after finishing a course (and this certificate is stored by LearnFormula indefinitely). Nearly 100,000 Canadian CPAs successfully satisfy their CPD requirements via LearnFormula on an annual basis.

What Students Are Saying

4.7 out of 5
Student's Choice
208 reviews
  • YL
    Yu Guo L.
    starstarstarstarstar

    Good match

  • MG
    Marta G.
    starstarstarstarstar

    Very good overview of common-size financial analysis

  • JR
    Jean-François R.
    starstarstarstarstar

    I obtained great insights from this course, thank you!

  • YG
    Yehia G.
    starstarstarstarstar

    Good and match

Frequently Asked Questions

We are a registered provider with 300+ associations and regulatory bodies worldwide. We operate across 27 global markets including Canada, the US, Australia, and the UK. Every course page clearly displays its specific accreditations. Upon completion, you receive a professional certificate that can be validated online. Our certificates include all necessary accreditation details, credit hours, and completion dates, and are formatted specifically to meet the submission requirements of most global regulatory bodies.

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