Financial ratios

The financial ratios industry benchmarks use data from tax returns to calculate the following ratios:

Net profit ratio	(Total business income minus Total expenses) divided by Total business income
Gross profit ratio	(Total business income minus Cost of sales) divided by Total business income
Wage to turnover ratio	Salary and wages paid divided by Total business income
Expense to turnover ratio	Total expenses divided by Total business income

The data used to calculate the 2017–18 financial ratios was sourced from 2018 tax returns processed up to 31 October 2019.

Activity statement ratios

The activity statement ratios industry benchmarks use data from business activity statements to calculate the following ratios:

Net GST to sales ratio	(GST on sales minus GST on purchases) divided by Total sales
Wages to sales ratio	Total salary and wages divided by Total sales

The data used to calculate the 2018–19 activity statement ratios was sourced from business and instalment activity statements processed up to 31 October 2019.

Caution when using industry benchmarks

These benchmarks are not definitive and should not be used in isolation.

For example, there are a range of legitimate reasons why businesses' ratios may vary from the industry averages and, conversely, why businesses' ratios close to the industry averages may have compliance problems or other financial difficulties.

An average ratio calculated using a large population is generally more reliable than one calculated from a small population. In any population being analysed, there are times when misleading results can be produced – for example, when:

• amounts listed at tax return labels do not make sense, like when cost of sales or total expenses are zero
• businesses are too small, like when total income is less than $10,000
• the ratios for a single entity are exceptional and would distort the calculation of a true industry average.

In our calculations we exclude records like these to stop them having an unwanted impact on the resulting ratios. For more information on why we exclude some data from the calculation, refer to table 1 below.

Industry benchmarks detailed tables

Table 1External Link: How we calculate our industry benchmarks

This table includes information on:

• the specific labels used in the calculation of our ratios
• the thresholds we use in our calculations and why we exclude certain data.

2017–18 financial ratios

Table F1External Link: Individual financial ratios, for the 2017–18 income year

Table F2External Link: Company financial ratios, for the 2017–18 income year

Table F3External Link: Partnerships financial ratios, for the 2017–18 income year

Table F4External Link: Trusts financial ratios, for the 2017–18 income year

Table F5External Link: All entities financial ratios, for the 2017–18 income year

2017–18 activity statement ratios

Table A1External Link: Individual activity statement ratios, for the 2018–19 financial year

Table A2External Link: Company activity statement ratios, for the 2018–19 financial year

Table A3External Link: Partnership activity statement ratios, for the 2018–19 financial year

Table A4External Link: Trust activity statement ratios, for the 2018–19 financial year

Table A5External Link: All entities activity statement ratios, for the 2018–19 financial year

See also:

• Individuals
• Companies
• Super funds
• Reference material