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The Global Insight

What financial ratios are percentages?

Author

John Hall

Updated on February 11, 2026

These financial ratios can be expressed in decimal as well as percentage values. For example, ratios higher than 1, like the P/E ratio, are expressed in decimals. On the contrary, ratios lower than 1, like the earnings yield ratio, are expressed in percentages.

What is a ratio in financial management?

A financial ratio or accounting ratio is a relative magnitude of two selected numerical values taken from an enterprise’s financial statements. Financial ratios may be used by managers within a firm, by current and potential shareholders (owners) of a firm, and by a firm’s creditors.

Are financial ratios expressed as percentages?

Ratios are also used by bankers, investors, and business analysts to assess various attributes of a company’s financial strength or operating results. Ratios are determined by dividing one number by another, and are usually expressed as a percentage.

How is a financial ratio expressed in percentage?

Here is a list of various financial ratios. Take note that most of the ratios can also be expressed in percentage by multiplying the decimal number by 100%. Each ratio is briefly described. Evaluates how much gross profit is generated from sales.

What should my personal financial ratio be at 30?

It is calculated as 120 minus your age. If you are 30 years, then you should have 90% of your investment assets in stocks and 10% in bonds. This is however not a one-size-fits-all approach. If you are more risk-averse, then you can use 100 minus your age instead of 120.

How are financial ratios used in security analysis?

Moreover, these financial ratios are also used by security analysts to contrast the strengths and weaknesses of various companies. These financial ratios can be expressed in decimal as well as percentage values. For example, ratios higher than 1, like the P/E ratio, are expressed in decimals.

How to analyze your business using financial ratios?

If you are thinking about buying shares of a publicly-traded company, you might look at its price-earnings ratio. If the stock is selling for $60 per share, and the company’s earnings are $2 per share, the ratio of price ($60) to earnings ($2) is 30 to 1. In common usage, we would say the “P/E ratio is 30.”