Guidelines for using Ratio Template



FSACV - 2007

Guidelines for Using the Ratio Template with Thomson Financial

The spreadsheet is a powerful financial analysis tool, particularly useful when analyzing loads of financial statement data. Most analysts have access to some type of canned database that can be used in spreadsheet analysis. They serve as starting points to financial analysis or as screening devices. Rather than hand-enter financial statements for analysis, one should become comfortable with the ease of electronic data gathering and with importing that data into a spreadsheet. There are many sources and processes one may use but the final product generally looks the same: a complete set of financial data with each relevant figure in a separate cell.

A convenient source for company-specific financial data is available through Thomson Financial. With your textbook purchase you have access this data via the web (see the card supplied with your text).

For this course there is an excel template, Ratiotem_Darden_2007.xls, that can be used with the Thomson Financial website to quickly compute most relevant company ratios over a five-year period (annual ratios only). The spreadsheet is downloadable from the course website. You should tailor this spreadsheet for your own specific purposes once you are comfortable with downloading data (e.g., creating a canned beginning to a valuation model). The ability to tailor the analyses for your own unique purposes is the basis behind accessing raw data. As you will see when you scan the Thomson website, they have an extensive set of canned financial analyses.*

 

1. Access the Thomson Financial website with URL .  Log in using your username and password. With your text you would have received an access card to this website.

2. Type the ticker symbol of your choice company (e.g., GE for General Electric).

3. Click Overview

4. Click Full Reports Folder, SEC Database Full Reports. and Annual Financial Section.   

5. Export this page and save as an Excel-compatible format (top right, Excel icon).  

6. Open the file "Ratio_Template_2007.xls" and the excel data file.

7. Link cell A2 of the template to the data file. That is, cell A2 should be a formula that looks like ='[filename.xls]Sheet1'!A2. Make sure the field “A2” in the formula field is not locked with “$” symbols.

8. Press CTRL - D.  The financials will be imported to the ratio template, and first-pass ratio profitability and risk analysis produced. (Note: you must have security settings in your excel program set to allow macros).

*The Thomson Financial export files appear to have cell protections that make each of these steps necessary. Please share any shortcuts or efficiencies you may discover.

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