Comparative Study on the Analysis of the Main Financial Indicators in Production, Trade and Services Activities

The fundamental objective of accounting is to provide the fairest representation possible of the financial reality of an entity and it is therefore a basic condition, but not sufficient, for economic decisions. It is necessary for the financial reality to be capitalized upon through the financial analysis. The companies constantly enjoy a wealth that, by virtue of the dynamism provided by their economic activity, increases or decreases with the results obtained. Thus, two directions of capitalization are delineated – one primarily, focusing on wealth, namely the financial position, and one secondary, focusing on results, namely the performance, which are interdependent with the former. In the current economic context, three major types of economic activities are identified, namely the production, the trade, and the services. They present convergences and divergences in terms of their uses and forms, of their financing needs and sources, as well as of their result generation. This material comparatively analyzes the main financial indicators in the context of three representative entities from the Romanian business environment, one predominantly engaged in production, one predominantly engaged in trade, and one predominantly engaged in services.