US Banks' Net Operating Income

The graph to the right was created using Google’s graph tools.

The line graph shows the net operating income for all commercial banks and savings institutions insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) from the 1st quarter, 2006 to the 2nd quarter, 2011.

The graph shows that net operating income of $26,688,000,000 for the 2nd quarter, 2011 has reached net operating income levels last reached during 2007. Bank net operating income has recovered significantly since the low point in the 4th quarter, 2008.

Data used in this graph can be found by clicking here. This takes you to the FDIC’s Quarterly Banking Profile Report that provides quarterly data on US banks’ financial performance. Click Quarterly Income to see data used on the graph.

Public Company Accounting Problems

The bar chart below was created using Google’s Chart Tools.

The chart shows an average of the frequency of problems that public companies had from 1997 to 2005. These accounting problems led the public companies to restate (re-issue) their financial statements. The data in the chart comes from two surveys conducted by the United States Government Accounting Office.

The chart provides an indication of where accounting problems most often occur.

More details on the surveys conducted by the US Government Accounting Office can be found by clicking here (PDF file).

Occupational Fraud

The pie charts below were created using Google’s Chart Tools.

The first chart shows the approximate frequency in 2010 of the three principle methods of occupational fraud (fraud against a company committed by employees). Asset misappropriation is where an employee steals or misuses company resources. Corruption is where an employee corrupts a business transaction for benefit. And, financial statement fraud is the misstatement of financial reports to mislead users.

The second chart shows the approximate frequency in 2010 of the five principle ways in which employees misappropriated company assets for the employee benefit.

The third chart shows the five most frequent methods in 2010 that occupational fraud was detected. Receiving a tip about the fraud was by far the most frequent (40% of the detections). Three of the five most frequent detection methods can be initiated by the company (management review; internal audit; and account reconciliation). “Other” includes: document examination; external audit; surveillance/monitoring; notified by police; confession; and IT controls.

The data in the graphs were obtained from the “Report to the Nation on Occupational Fraud and Abuse – 2010” published by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. Click here to go to the report (PDF file).

Effective Tax Rates for Small Businesses by Entity Type

The graphs below were created using Google’s graph tool.

The vertical bar graphs show the effective tax rate for small businesses by the entity type of the small business (sole proprietorship – nonfarm; partnership; S corporation; and C corporation).

Details behind the percentages are in a 2009 study done by Quantria Strategies, LLC for the US Small Business Administration. The study can be read by clicking here (PDF file). The study defines a small business as a business having less than $10,000,000 in gross revenues.

A separate graph is presented for C corporations because the effective tax rate for C corporations should not be compared to the effective tax rates for the other business entities. The reasons for this is that the C corporation tax rate does not include income taxes that owners pay on the salaries they receive from the corporation and the effective tax rate does not include taxes on dividends that owners receive from the corporation.

Working Capital as a Percentage of Sales

The horizontal bar graph shows the working capital balance as a percentage of sales for 10 business sectors.

The graph was generated using data at Aswath Damodaran’s website. Go to this website by clicking here. At the website, click the “Corporate Finance” button, then go down the page to the Valuation section and click “Working Capital by Sector” next to Data Sets.

The data on the graph and at Damodaran’s website can be used by companies to compare their working capital balance as a percentage of sales to the average in their business sector.