What is Vertical Analysis? Process & Examples

vertical analysis is also known as

Before conducting vertical analysis, having all the data needed for the calculation is critical. This information will provide a better understanding of which areas of your company are generating high and low revenue. This analysis helps see the proportion of each item compared to the net profit, providing insights into where the money is coming from and where it is being spent. In this guide, we will explore the concept of vertical analysis, its purpose, and why it is crucial in financial analysis. We’ll dive into the methodology of vertical analysis and walk you through the step-by-step process of conducting a vertical analysis. By the end of this guide, you’ll be equipped with the knowledge to interpret vertical analysis results and apply them in practical scenarios.

Overall financial performance is usually analyzed with horizontal or ratio comparison tools. In this example, we have expressed each line item as a percentage of the revenue, which serves as the base figure. By doing so, we can analyze the proportions and relationships between different components of the income statement. By analyzing these ratios using vertical analysis, you can gain insights into a company’s cash flow management and capital allocation strategies. The income statement, also known as the profit and loss statement, reveals a company’s revenues, expenses, and net income over a specific period. It highlights the profitability of the business and helps assess its operational efficiency.

This helps us understand the composition of the balance sheet and identify any significant trends or deviations. This percentage can be used to compare both balance sheet and income statementperformance within the company. Much like ratio vertical analysis is also known as analysis, vertical analysis allows financial information of a small company to be compared with that of a large company. The common size percentage can also be used to compare different companies within the same industry or companies that use different currencies. Vertical Analysis is a form of financial analysis where the line items on a company’s income statement or balance sheet is expressed as a percentage of a base figure. To deepen your understanding of vertical analysis, let’s explore some practical examples that demonstrate its application in analyzing financial statements.

Horizontal vs. Vertical Analysis

Vertical analysis emerges as a valuable accounting technique that offers a proportional examination of financial statements, facilitating comparisons and trend identification. Its advantages lie in its ability to highlight trends, identify potential issues, and streamline segment comparisons. However, it is important to recognize that vertical analysis has limitations, including its inability to provide absolute values and the absence of consideration for external factors. To obtain a clear overview, businesses often combine both vertical and horizontal analyses, thus ensuring a holistic understanding of financial position and performance. Ultimately, these tools remain crucial for making informed financial decisions and evaluating a company’s standing in the competitive landscape. When conducting vertical analysis, individuals often rely on specific financial statements such as balance sheets, income statements, and cash flow statements.

vertical analysis is also known as

It gives business owners a more detailed view of their financial health compared to just knowing their total assets, liabilities and equity. By comparing the proportions of individual accounts from time period to period, companies can track fluctuations and use them to inform strategic decisions, assisting with financial forecasting. Vertical analysis can also be used to benchmark a company’s performance against industry averages.

vertical analysis is also known as

By seamlessly integrating data from multiple sources, converting it into a suitable format, and offering dynamic reporting and visualization options, Acterys streamlines the vertical analysis process. Vertical analysis is a useful tool for financial statement analysis and helps businesses gain insight into their financial position and performance. However, it has certain limitations that should be taken into account when relying on its output. By applying vertical analysis to your financial statements, you can gain valuable insights into the composition and distribution of your company’s assets, liabilities, and income.

Similarly, in a balance sheet, every entry is made not in terms of absolute currency but as a percentage of the total assets. Performing a vertical analysis of a company’s cash flow statement represents every cash outflow or inflow relative to its total cash inflows. Vertical analysis, also known as common-size analysis, is a powerful tool used in finance to gain insights into the financial health and performance of a company. It involves comparing each line item or component within a financial statement to a specific base figure, usually expressed as a percentage.

It enables businesses to gain quick insights into historical performance by comparing current values to previous periods. Vertical analysis is a powerful technique that allows individuals and businesses to gain a deeper understanding of their financial performance. It provides valuable insights into the proportional representation of each line item within a financial statement and can help drive informed decision-making.

For example, the amount of cash reported on the balance sheet on Dec. 31 of 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, and 2020 will be expressed as a percentage of the Dec. 31, 2020, amount. If you want to take your variance analysis to the next level, check out FloQast Variance Analysis. It offers a better way to perform flux and budget variance analysis by automating the data collection process and integrating with your ERP. For each line item on the balance sheet, divide it by the Total Assets and multiply the result by 100.

Step 3. Vertical Analysis of Balance Sheet

By examining these vertical percentages, analysts can evaluate the cost structure, profitability ratios, and the relative significance of different line items within the income statement. Accurate and reliable financial statements are essential for conducting effective vertical analysis. If the financial statements contain errors or are not prepared in accordance with accounting principles, the results of vertical analysis may be misleading. Therefore, it is crucial to ensure the integrity of the financial statements before performing vertical analysis. The process is virtually identical to our common size income statement, however, the base figure is “Total Assets” as opposed to “Revenue”. To start, the table below shows the company’s historical financial statements – the income statement and balance sheet – of our hypothetical company, which we’ll be using throughout our two-part exercise.

Vertical Analysis of Cash Flow Statement

With this, organizations can monitor changes and lead them to strategic decision-making. Additionally, vertical analysis can serve as a tool for comparing a company’s performance to industry standards. Vertical common size analysis provides a valuable tool for FP&A professionals to gain insights into the composition, trends, and relationships within a company’s financial statements. Through FP&A tools, you can simplify vertical analysis by conducting faster calculations, incorporating the values into visually appealing charts, forecasting your company’s future through analysing historical data.

Vertical analysis (or common-size analysis) and horizontal analysis (also known as trend analysis) are two of the most commonly used tools in financial statement analysis. This helps to determine whether a company’s performance has been improving or declining over time due to various factors, such as competitive pressure and new product launches. By using both vertical and horizontal analyses, businesses can gain a better understanding of their financial position and performance. Vertical analysis is a technique used in financial statement analysis to show the relative size of each account compared to the total amount.

You simply receive a concise view of your line items without performing complex calculations. Using tools such as Power BI to chart your results, you can visualize your performance and make informed decisions for a successful plan. Vertical percentage analysis provides a swift means of evaluating your past performance by comparing your current figures to those of the past.

By converting the financial data into percentages, vertical analysis enables you to understand the proportional representation of each line item in the context of the whole.
In this scenario, revenue serves as the fundamental component, and the percentages will unveil the proportion of revenue generated by each specific item.
This insight can help a business evaluate its pricing strategy, production costs, and profit margins.
Vertical analysis, also known as common-size analysis, is a technique used to assess the relative proportions of different line items within a financial statement.
When conducting vertical analysis, individuals often rely on specific financial statements such as balance sheets, income statements, and cash flow statements.
If you want to take your variance analysis to the next level, check out FloQast Variance Analysis.

With Acterys, FP&A professionals can conduct thorough vertical analysis and make well-informed decisions thanks to its scenario planning and collaboration features. This empowers organizations to drive business growth by unlocking the true potential of their financial data and harnessing the advantages of vertical analysis for strategic decision-making. Income statement analysis can help you analyze the distribution of costs and expenses relative to revenue. This helps in evaluating the efficiency of cost management which thus identifies areas of improvement.