Return on Equity, or ROE, is a widely recognized measure of a company’s performance. Even though some senior executives’ compensation is based on ROE or a similar measure, many regard it as an academic, technical calculation, and wait until year-end for the accountants to give them the result.

ROE tells you how effectively you are using your company’s resources, and it CAN be managed. It is a tool that should be evaluated and refined constantly to ensure your business is headed in the right direction. It can be managed by breaking it down into its separate components:

The calculation of ROE is:

ROE = Profit Margin X Asset Turnover X Financial Leverage

Profit margin is your profit as a percentage of sales. No surprises here. You know your industry, and you know your company, and you know how to improve your margins.

Asset turnover is your sales divided by your total assets. Turnover drops when you carry more standing inventory than you need, or make capital investments before you really need them. Faster collection of accounts receivable will improve your asset turnover… And obviously, increasing sales will improve your turnover.

Financial leverage is your total assets divided by shareholders’ equity. Negotiating longer vendor payment terms can increase financial leverage. So can increasing debt, but that is a complex decision that should be discussed in depth with your CFO.

Does your CFO work with you and your operating teams to improve the components of ROE?