What Is Financial Data?

Flipnode on May 25 2023

The significance of financial data in business decision-making cannot be overstated. It encompasses vital information that offers a comprehensive understanding of an organization's financial health. Financial data is derived from various sources, including traditional ones like balance sheets, income statements, and cash flow statements, as well as external data obtained from sources outside the company.

Different stakeholders, such as investors, managers, and regulators, analyze these datasets for diverse purposes. Investors rely on financial data to make informed investment decisions and monitor the performance of their investments. Internal management teams utilize financial data to assess business performance and evaluate the effectiveness of their strategies.

This article will explore the various types of financial data, their practical applications, and the tools available for managing and analyzing financial data effectively.

Types of financial data and use cases

Financial data can be categorized into two main groups: traditional financial data and alternative data.

Traditional data:

Traditional financial data encompasses information from conventional sources like financial statements, press releases, and SEC filings. It includes various types of data such as assets, liabilities, equity, income, expenses, and cash flow.

Assets represent everything a company owns, including tangible and intangible assets. Liabilities, on the other hand, refer to the financial obligations or debts of a business. Income represents the wealth generated from sales and investments, while expenses denote the costs incurred in business operations. Equity represents the residual value after liquidating assets and paying off debts. Cash flow indicates the sources of income and the allocation of expenses within a business.

Alternative data:

In the data-driven world we live in, alternative data has gained prominence as a valuable resource for investors and analysts. It involves non-traditional data sources that provide unique insights into investment opportunities. According to research, businesses are increasingly focusing on sourcing external data to enhance their decision-making processes.

Alternative data includes information from diverse sources such as financial transactions, web data, and geolocation data. It offers detailed and granular insights into a company's performance and financial details. Examples of alternative data include web analytics (page views, click-through rates, bounce rates), social media data, geolocation data, credit card transactions, email receipts, product reviews, and satellite imagery.

Acquiring alternative data typically involves three approaches: web scraping, raw data acquisition, and third-party licensing. Web scraping involves using software tools to extract relevant unstructured data from web pages, which is then processed into structured formats for analysis. Raw data can be obtained from sensors or other sources but requires cleaning and processing before analysis. Third-party licensing involves purchasing processed data from intermediaries who gather and refine data from various sources for investor use.

These categories of financial data provide a comprehensive view of an organization's financial health and support informed decision-making in various business contexts.

How to manage financial data

Financial data management involves the systematic measurement and analysis of an organization's financial information using specialized tools. Let's explore the concept of financial analysis and the range of tools used for collecting, analyzing, and managing financial data.

Understanding Financial Analysis:

Financial analysis is the process of evaluating and examining a company's financial data to assess its performance. It involves a comprehensive review of the financial statements to gain insights into the business's financial health.

Internal financial analysis, known as corporate financial analysis, is conducted by a company's management to review historical trends and make informed decisions based on the financial data. External financial analysis, on the other hand, is performed by investors to assess the investment potential of a business.

Two main types of financial analysis are fundamental analysis and technical analysis. Fundamental analysis utilizes financial ratios and factors that impact the company's value, while technical analysis focuses on statistical trends derived from trading activity to predict future stock movements.

Other methods of financial analysis include vertical analysis, horizontal analysis, leverage ratios analysis, growth rates analysis, and profitability analysis. Financial analysts also assess liquidity, efficiency ratios, cash flow, rates of return, valuation, and variance to gain a holistic understanding of a company's financial performance.

Managing Financial Data:

Financial analysis is often carried out using tools like Microsoft Excel or specialized financial data management software applications. These tools assist analysts in handling large data sets and making informed assumptions based on the data.

Financial analytics tools enable tracking various metrics such as income, expenses, and profits. They streamline the data collection and preparation process, simplifying the analysis. Some solutions provide valuable insights to help businesses enhance their operations.

Dealing with alternative data can present challenges due to its size and complexity. Advanced software and skilled data scientists are required to process and extract meaningful insights from alternative data sets. However, with a well-defined strategy, investors can reduce costs and gain a competitive advantage using alternative data.

Using financial statements information

Financial statements are comprehensive documents that present the financial performance of a business during a specific period. These statements undergo auditing by accountants, firms, and government agencies. Financial analysts and investors heavily rely on the data contained in these statements to evaluate the financial well-being of businesses and make informed decisions.

Financial statements can be considered as the scorecard of a company, capturing crucial financial data related to various aspects of its operations. They can be assessed based on the company's current, past, or projected performance.

Examples of financial statements include the balance sheet, cash flow statement, and income statement.

• Balance sheet: This statement provides an overview of a business's assets, liabilities, and equity at a specific point in time. It allows investors to quickly evaluate the performance of potential investments.
• Income statement: Also known as the profit and loss statement, the income statement presents a summary of sales, expenses, and the net income generated during a specific period. Net income is determined by subtracting expenses from the revenue generated.
• Cash flow statement: This statement estimates a company's ability to generate cash to meet its obligations and fund operational expenses. It complements the other financial statements and provides investors with a snapshot of how money flows through the business.

Financial statements are regularly maintained by businesses and serve as a valuable resource for internal management teams in decision-making processes. Financial statement analysts employ three key techniques to analyze data from these statements:

1. Horizontal analysis: This technique involves comparing historical financial data over two or more years to identify growth trends.
2. Vertical analysis: This method examines the relationship between items on a financial statement, providing insights into their relative proportions.
3. Ratio analysis: It involves comparing various financial ratios to assess the company's performance in different areas. Examples of financial ratios include liquidity ratios, solvency ratios, profitability ratios, efficiency ratios, and coverage ratios.

While financial statements offer significant information about a company's finances, they are subject to interpretation by individual investors. As a result, different investors may draw varying conclusions about the financial health of a business.

Conclusion

Financial data plays a critical role for analysts and investors seeking to evaluate the financial health and performance of companies. In this context, alternative data has emerged as a valuable resource for investors and hedge funds aiming to enhance their alpha generation. To explore further insights on data aggregation in finance and other industries, you can read another related article here.