Reorganizing the Financial Statements

A proper assessment of financial performance requires reorganizing financial statements to avoid traps like double counting, omitting cash flows, and hiding leverage.



ROIC = NOPLAT / (Invested Capital)

FCF = NOPLAT + Noncash operating expenses - Investments in invested capital.

Invested Capital (for a simplistic firm)
= Operating Assets - Operating Liabilities = Debt + Equity

Total Funds Invested (for a more realistic firm)
= Invested Capital + Nonoperating Assets
= (Operating Assets - Operating Liabilities) + Nonoperating Assets
= (Debt + Equity) + Nonoperating Assets
= (Debt and Debt Equivalents) + (Equity and Equity Equivalents)


(NOPLAT is.Net operating profit less adjusted taxes)



In practice, there are difficulties in categorizing assets as operating or nonoperating and right-hand balance sheet items as debt or equity, and this makes computing the values in these equations difficult.

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Excess Cash

Excess cash should not be included in invested capital because it is not necessary for core operations, and including it will depress ROIC.

Financial subsidiaries

The operations of those subsidiaries require a separate analysis from those of the manufacturing operations, because financial institutions have different capital and leverage norms.

Advanced analytical issues

Advanced analytical issues include 

• operating leases, 
• pensions and other retirement benefits, 
• capitalized research and development, and 
• nonoperating charges and restructuring reserves.

Operating leases:  The implied value of those leased assets that are not capitalized can be estimated.  A more appropriate measure of leverage can be obtained with the following equation:

Asset Value at time t-1 = Rental Expense at time t / [kd + (1/Asset Life)]

Pensions and other retirement benefits:  Like excess cash, excess pension assets and pension shortfalls should not be included in invested capital.

Research and development:  Research and development should be included in invested capital.

Nonoperating charges and restructuring reserves:  Provisions fall into four basic categories:

• ongoing operating provisions,
• long-term operating provisions,
• nonoperating provisions, and,
• income-smoothing provisions.

Each requires an adjustment to return or invested capital or both.