Assessing the usefulness of accounting measures for examining profitability of the State Forests’ National Forest Holding

Abstract

Abstract The purpose of this study was to analyse the profitability of the State Forests by using accounting measures and to determine their practical applicability for evaluating the State Forests’ activities covering the years 2008-2012. In our assessment, we used the ratios: return on assets, return on equity and return on sales, which were calculated for the four following levels of financial result: operating result and economic activity result, gross profit and net profit. The degree of variability of the analysed ratios was determined for the years 2008-2012. On the basis of our survey, the State Forests’ activities were found to be profitable. The ratios return on assets, sales and equity show only slight variation depending on the applied category of financial results. Furthermore, this study confirms that there is a high degree of variation over time. In the years 2008-2012, the profitability ranged from 2% to 13% with the highest profit having been reached in 2011. We conclude that for the State Forests’ activity assessment, the profitability ratios established for the category of operating results will be of great significance.