Efficiency Ratio: Definition, Formula, and Example (2024)

What Is an Efficiency Ratio?

The efficiency ratio is typically used to analyze how well a company uses its assets and liabilities internally. An efficiency ratio can calculate the turnover of receivables, the repayment of liabilities, the quantity and usage of equity, and the general use of inventory and machinery. This ratio can also be used to track and analyze the performance of commercial and investment banks.

What Does an Efficiency Ratio Tell You?

Efficiency ratios,alsoknown as activity ratios,are used by analysts tomeasure the performance of a company's short-term or current performance. All these ratios use numbers in a company's current assets or current liabilities, quantifying the operations of the business.

An efficiency ratio measures a company's ability to use its assets to generate income. For example, an efficiency ratio often looks at various aspects of the company, such as the time it takes to collect cash from customers or the amount of time it takes to convert inventory to cash. This makes efficiency ratios important, because an improvement in the efficiency ratios usually translates to improved profitability.

These ratios can be compared with peers in the same industry and can identify businesses that are better managed relative to the others. Some common efficiency ratios are accounts receivable turnover, fixed asset turnover, sales to inventory, sales to net working capital, accounts payable to sales and stock turnover ratio.

Efficiency Ratios for Banks

In the banking industry, an efficiency ratio has a specific meaning. For banks, the efficiency ratio is non-interest expenses/revenue. This shows how well the bank's managers control their overhead (or "back office") expenses. Like the efficiency ratios above, this allows analysts to assess the performance of commercial and investment banks.

The EfficiencyRatio for Banks Is:

EfficiencyRatio=ExpensesRevenuenotincludinginterest\begin{aligned} &\text{Efficiency Ratio} = \frac{\text{Expenses}^{\dagger}}{\text{Revenue}} \\ &\dagger \text{not including interest}\\ \end{aligned}EfficiencyRatio=RevenueExpensesnotincludinginterest

Since a bank's operating expenses are in the numerator and its revenue is in the denominator, a lower efficiency ratio means that a bank is operating better.

An efficiency ratio of 50% or under is considered optimal. If the efficiency ratio increases, it means a bank's expenses are increasing or its revenues are decreasing.

For example, Bank X reportedquarterly earnings and it had anefficiency ratio of 57.1%, which was lower than the 63.2% ratio it reported for the same quarter last year. This means the company's operations became more efficient, increasingits assets by $80 million for the quarter.

Efficiency Ratio: Definition, Formula, and Example (2024)

FAQs

Efficiency Ratio: Definition, Formula, and Example? ›

The Efficiency ratio is calculated by dividing current liabilities & current assets by total assets. Efficiency ratios measure the efficiency of a firm's operation, which can be used to analyze how well a company uses its assets to generate revenue.

What is an example of an efficient ratio? ›

If the efficiency ratio increases, it means a bank's expenses are increasing or its revenues are decreasing. For example, Bank X reported quarterly earnings and it had an efficiency ratio of 57.1%, which was lower than the 63.2% ratio it reported for the same quarter last year.

What is the formula for efficiency ratio in production? ›

The efficiency ratio measures whether the production output for a period in a production cost centre took more or less direct labour time than expected. It is calculated as: (Standard direct labour hours of actual production ÷ actual direct labour hours worked) × 100%.

How is efficiency ratio expressed? ›

An institution's efficiency ratio, expressed as a percentage, is the result of the ratio between operating expenses and the gross margin. For example, if the efficiency ratio is 60% it means that to earn 100 euro, an institution needs to spend 60. Therefore, the lower the percentage, the more efficient the institution.

What is the formula for overhead efficiency ratio? ›

Overhead ÷ Total Revenue = Overhead percentage

In a business that is performing well, an overhead percentage that does not exceed 35% of total revenue is considered favourable.

How to calculate efficiency ratio? ›

Here are four ways that an Efficiency Ratio can be calculated:
  1. Non-interest expense divided by total revenue less interest expense.
  2. Non-interest expense divided by net interest income before provision for loan losses.
  3. Non-interest expense divided by revenue.

What is an example of efficiency formula? ›

For example, if you put 100 Joules of energy into a machine, and got 50 Joules back out (and the other 50 Joules was wasted by the machine), you would have 50% efficiency. So, if you put in 50 Joules and got 45 Joules back, you would have: % Efficiency = (45 J) / (50 J) * 100% = ?

What are the three efficiency ratios? ›

Efficiency ratios include the inventory turnover ratio, asset turnover ratio, and receivables turnover ratio. These ratios measure how efficiently a company uses its assets to generate revenues and its ability to manage those assets.

What is a good efficiency ratio for a bank? ›

As a result, an unwritten rule in the industry is that a bank efficiency ratio of 50% is the optimal, achievable standard. And banks are still striving for this 50% standard. Even within the top 100 banks, the median efficiency ratio hovers at 59%.

What is a good efficiency percentage? ›

They look at the company's industry and evaluate how the company's competitors are doing. Financial industry analysts commonly use the efficiency ratio to judge a bank's performance. Experts consider an efficiency ratio of 50% or less to be extremely good. The average efficiency ratio for banks is closer to 60%.

What is the basic efficiency formula? ›

Efficiency can be expressed as a ratio by using the following formula: Output ÷ Input. Output, or work output, is the total amount of useful work completed without accounting for any waste and spoilage. You can also express efficiency as a percentage by multiplying the ratio by 100.

How to improve efficiency ratio? ›

You can improve your efficiency ratio in one of two ways: becoming more productive or becoming more efficient. If you focus on productivity, then you'd take steps to increase the amount of revenue that comes in for the same amount of labor.

What are the 4 efficiency ratios? ›

Efficiency ratios include the inventory turnover ratio, asset turnover ratio, and receivables turnover ratio. These ratios measure how efficiently a company uses its assets to generate revenues and its ability to manage those assets.

What is a good example of efficiency? ›

In general, we say something is efficient when it maximises outputs with given inputs. In other words, it's the ability to do something well and without waste. Often we try to measure efficiency levels, such as how energy efficient our light bulbs are or how efficient a business is at producing a product.

What is an example of a ratio? ›

For example, if there are eight oranges and six lemons in a bowl of fruit, then the ratio of oranges to lemons is eight to six (that is, 8:6, which is equivalent to the ratio 4:3). Similarly, the ratio of lemons to oranges is 6:8 (or 3:4) and the ratio of oranges to the total amount of fruit is 8:14 (or 4:7).

What is an example of energy efficiency ratio? ›

For example, a 12,000-BTU air conditioner that uses 1,200 watts has an EER rating of 10 (12,000/1,200 = 10). This measurement is based on operating the air conditioner with an outside temperature of 95 degrees Fahrenheit. The EER rating indicates how energy efficient an HVAC unit is.

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