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View Full Version : Calculating Return on Equity using a Company's Financial Statements


mzcross1128
Oct 12, 2009, 08:50 AM
The formula I used for Return on Equity (ROE) is: net income/common equity=ROE

How do I get accurate results of common equity when looking at financial statements? If shareholder's equity totals $30,753, is this the same as common equity? There are several formulas for ROE, if I used any two formulas, will I arrive at the same answer?

ArcSine
Oct 12, 2009, 10:08 AM
"Shareholders' Equity" = "Common Equity" if and only if there are no other classes of equity outstanding; i.e. there is no preferred equity in the equity structure.

Generally, if Shareholders' Equity does include some outstanding preferred, the ROE ratio would be modified to deduct preferred dividends from Net Income in the numerator. The idea is to see the ratio

"Net Income available to Common" / " / "

As to the different flavors of the ROE formulas, whether any two are equivalent is simply a matter of examining exactly how the numerators and denominators of the two formulas are defined. For example, if one is using "Net Income"

As to the different flavors of the ROE formulas, whether or not any two are equivalent is simply a matter of examining exactly how the numerators and denominators of the two formulas are defined. For example, if one is using "Net Income less Preferred Dividends" I mentioned above, but both are using the same " in the numerator, while another is using the " in the denominator, then clearly they'll produce different values.