The concept of a ratio analysis of consolidated financial statements applied to listed capital groups on the example of the Deutsche Börse Group

Abstract

Purpose: The article concerns the ratio analysis of consolidated financial statements. The aim is to en-courage and conduct a discussion about its specifics and usefulness. Methodology/approach: The concept of ratio analysis of consolidated reporting created by Karmańska in 1999 (and later verified) is presented. The advantages of this analytical method were illustrated on the example of the corporate group of the German stock exchange operator. Findings: The concept has shown its usefulness in identifying aspects of business activity that are specif-ic for capital groups. The authors recommend its usage either fully or to a limited extent, depending on the area of analysis where functioning in a capital group matters and can enrich the reasoning. Research limitations/implications: This article does not present the results of direct empirical studies conducted using the proposed analytical approach but is oriented on a specific aspect of business activity assessment. It is aimed at a wider community of academics and practitioners verifying the proposed analytical concept. Originality/value: The article concentrates on the specifics of consolidated financial statement analysis, which has, until now, been present in the literature only to a limited extent. Moreover, this is the first work where a detailed financial analysis of a stock exchange operator was performed.