What Causes an Increase in the Percentage of Return on Assets? | Bizfluent (2024)

The return on assets, also known as return on investment, is a ratio that indicates how profitable a company is in relation to its assets. A small business owner arrives at the percentage of return on assets by dividing the annual earnings with the total business assets. This figure depicts how well a business is managing its assets and converting these assets into net income. An increase in the percentage of return on assets is an indication of profitability for a business.

Control Expenses

One of the reasons for an increase in the percentage of return on assets is control of business expenses. When a business earns more than it is spending, it can expect to improve and even increase its return on assets. However, this is not always a simple task to undertake because spending less may decrease sales volume. A good approach is to invest in those assets or undertake those expenses that are extremely necessary for business operation. This necessity is determined by the needs of the business at any given time.

Increased Asset Turnover

Asset turnover is the amount of sales generated by an asset. An increase in asset turnover entails increasing sales with the same number of assets or maintaining sales with a reduced number of assets. This approach is possible when a firm refrains from spending too much on exorbitant equipment or purchasing too much inventory. By leasing or renting equipment or outsourcing some jobs, a business is able to maximize its asset turnover.

Increase Sales

An increase in sale, while lowering expenses, may increase the percentage of return on assets. Increasing sales to impact on ROA requires a proportionate reduction in expenses. Increasing the cost of goods sold while maintaining the current assets may also increase the percentage of ROA. For example, if by increasing the cost of goods to $500 and keeping expense at $7,500, the sales volume could increase to $10,000 then, you would add $2,000 to net profit and the ROA would increase to 6.4 percent.

Debt Capital

Debt capital is the money borrowed from lenders and investors as a loan or venture capital. Debt capital is an asset and how a business invests this asset has a significant impact on the return on asset figures. Ideally, an increase in the percentage of return on assets means that a company has invested its debt capital wisely. When a company pays more to finance debt capital than it is getting from investing this debt capital, the return on asset is low.

What Causes an Increase in the Percentage of Return on Assets? | Bizfluent (2024)

FAQs

What causes return on assets to increase? ›

If the return on assets is increasing, then either net income is increasing or the average total assets are decreasing. A company can arrive at a high ROA either by boosting its profit margin or, more efficiently, by using its assets to increase sales.

How do you increase rate of return on total assets? ›

Increase Net Income: To improve ROA, focus on increasing net income by boosting revenue and reducing expenses. implement cost-cutting measures, negotiate better deals with suppliers, or explore new markets to drive sales.

What results in an increase in the return on assets ratio? ›

A ROA that rises over time indicates the company is doing well at increasing its profits with each investment dollar it spends. A falling ROA indicates the company might have over-invested in assets that have failed to produce revenue growth, a sign the company may be in some trouble.

What does an increase in the return on assets ratio implies? ›

A rising ROA may indicate a company is generating more profit vs. total assets. A declining ROA may mean lower profits vs. total assets.

What causes rate of return to increase? ›

The concept of increasing returns describes the case when a marginal investment generates an output above the average. Decreasing returns prevails when a marginal investment produces an output below the average. Decreasing returns is the default condition because it is the natural result of competition.

What causes an increase in assets? ›

Equity issuance and growth in retained earnings both lead to an increase in the book equity of a firm and, as a result, to an increase in total assets. Debt issuance leads to an increase in the liabilities of a firm and consequently also to an increase in its total assets.

How do you increase your rate of return? ›

6 Ways to Boost Portfolio Returns
  1. Equities Over Bonds. While equities do carry a higher risk than bonds, a manageable combination of the two in a portfolio can offer an attractive return with low volatility. ...
  2. Small vs. Large Companies. ...
  3. Managing Your Expenses. ...
  4. Value vs. ...
  5. Diversification. ...
  6. Rebalancing.

What is an example of return on assets? ›

Example of ROA Calculation

Q: If a business posts a net income of $10 million in current operations, and owns $50 million worth of assets as per the balance sheet, what is its return on assets? A: $10 million divided by $50 million is 0.2, therefore the business's ROA is 20%.

How do you increase return on net assets? ›

To increase the return on net assets, you can try to increase the company's net income, reduce its fixed assets, or improve its net working capital.

What is when an asset increases in value? ›

Appreciation is an increase in the value of an asset over time.

What does an increase in assets show? ›

We can generally say that increasing the company's current net asset means an increase in the company's opportunities in maintaining its growth. Some of the important current assets for companies: Cash and its equivalents. Short term investments. Payable sales.

What causes ROE to increase? ›

ROE will increase as net income increases, all else equal. Another way to boost ROE is to reduce the value of shareholders' equity.

What should return on assets be greater than? ›

A good return on assets is in the 10% range. Anything above that is excellent and below 5% is considered harmful. A company with a ROA of 15% or higher is doing very well, while one with 1% or lower is likely in trouble. If the return on assets is less than one, you lose money.

What is the growth rate return on assets? ›

Calculate the return on assets (ROA) metric, which is equal to net income divided by the average total assets balance (i.e. the sum of the beginning and end-of-period balances divided by two) Multiply the company's retention ratio and return on assets (ROA) to arrive at the internal growth rate (IGR)

What does it mean when an asset value increases? ›

Asset Value Increase means the change in FMV of an Asset, calculated as the FMV of an Asset as of December 31 of a particular year (or the date of disposition of such Asset if sold during a calendar year), less the FMV of the same Asset as of December 31 of the prior year (or the date of acquisition if acquired during ...

What will cause an asset account to increase? ›

A debit to an asset account will increase the account, while a credit will decrease the account. For example, when a company receives cash from customer, they debit cash, and when they pay suppliers, they would credit cash.

What affects a company's ROA? ›

Return on assets could be high or low because of a company's net income, its total assets, or a combo of both. To begin with, a company's assets, and how they use them to generate profits, is influenced by many different factors including its industry, goals, and operations.

What causes increase in return on investment? ›

Factors affecting your ROI

The largest of these is market share, because the higher the share of the market, the higher your profit margin tends to be. As an average, companies which have market share above 36% earn more than three times as much as businesses with less than a 7% share of their market.

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