This is a six blog series on Why Review Financial Statements? Catalyst Cohorts has re-invented Peer 2 Peer CEO groups with the novel concept that to get the best results from the time we spend helping each other with issues and opportunities we need to know each other’s business or organization better. Because we review Financial Information and Key Performance Indicators each month we get to know each other’s businesses more intimately and in return we know our own business better too! Here is Why, What and How we do this

Industry Comparisons/ Benchmarking

Sometimes it helps to compare basic financial information and ratios to the industry you belong to. Often these comparisons are generated by the association from the industry. If association info is not available- then going to public documents for the public companies in your industry will be needed.

KPI and financial statement info comparisons can reveal trends in particular industries, creating benchmarks against which the performance of all industry players can be measured. Small businesses can use industry benchmarks to craft organizational strategy and clearly measure their own performance against the industry as a whole.