BubblyDina
May 30, 2008, 06:05 AM
Ive been searching for the background on ratio analysis.
Can sumbody help me out on this?
...
morgaine300
May 31, 2008, 02:41 PM
Do you mean like the history of how it developed?
BubblyDina
Jun 1, 2008, 01:02 AM
I guess so... its super hard 2 find info on it.& the books at the library where I'm studying don't really haf loads of finance or accounting books.mainly marketing. Help...
morgaine300
Jun 1, 2008, 04:32 PM
Well, I tried doing a search on it and didn't find much either. All I found was the first page of something I need to pay for in order to see the rest. Mostly the hits I got were the history of specific company's ratios, as opposed to the history of ratios.
My suspicions are that people in finance don't necessarily know the history of its developments, at least past a minor amount. Finance isn't really my area, but like for accounting, I know some 14th century Monk developed the double-entry system -- and that's the only history I know. Cause really, I don't care. So even when you learn things like that, it's not like the kind of thing you remember.
This is also related to investing -- I wonder if gearing towards that route would be useful. I've read about the development of the concept of investing, and the beginnings of investing in the U.S. and of the stock market. I don't recall reading anything about when/how ratio analysis was used, but it might be out there somewhere. According to what little of that report I could read, the current uses we have of it didn't really develop until last century. There's very little there, about 3-4 paragraphs, but it's here if you want to peak:
Cookie Absent (http://www.jstor.org/pss/243765)
(I don't know why that says Cookie Absent. They have to be on, but I took that URL directly off the page.)
Maybe someone will come along who knows something, but really, I'd say good luck to you.