ACCOUNTING TERMS - ACCOUNTING DICTIONARY - ACCOUNTING GLOSSARY
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OPERATING LEVERAGE Definition
OPERATING LEVERAGE is fixed operating costs divided by total (fixed plus variable) operating costs.
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RATIO ANALYSIS involves conversion of financial numbers for a firm into ratios. Ratio analysis allows comparison of one firm to another. Since ratios look at relationships inside the firm, a firm of one size can be directly compared to a second firm (or a collection of firms) which may be larger or smaller or even in a different business. Financial Ratio Analysis is a method of comparison not dependent on the size of either firm. Financial Ratios provide a broader basis for comparison than do raw numbers. In the VentureLine database the comparison is conducted against the industry (SIC Code) in which each particular listing is associated.
CONSTRUCT OF UTILITY THEORY is a scientific calculation that has an underlying concept of utility in that it is used to rank a series of alternatives and, in the case of a simple choice, identify the single alternative, which has higher utility, or out ranks, all other alternatives. The primary implication of this ranking or ordering of alternatives is that there is no absolute reference, zero point, for utility values. Thus, the only valuation that is important is the difference in utility between pairs of alternatives; particularly whether that difference is positive or negative. Any function that produces the same preference orderings can serve as a utility function and will give the same predictions of choice, regardless of the numerical values of the utilities assigned to individual alternatives. It also follows that utility functions, which result in the same order among alternatives, are equivalent.

