The Applicant/Assessor assessment tool will benchmark your data against the comparator group you have selected using the filters.

By entering in either detailed or total information using the Input Form, the Twine Benchmark assessment tool will generate a detailed Output Report including ratios, metrics and a comparative breakdown.

You will be able to export a DOC version of the Output Report.

The Assessment Tool works by comparing your data with the larger data set collected by MyCake, so to generate the Output Report you’ll need some information to hand.

The Input Form is divided into three sections – Income, Expenditure and Assets & Liabilities. To get the most out of the report, you’ll want to complete all three.

Twine Benchmark has been designed to work with the kind of information you would have on a Profit & Loss Statement or your Annual Company Accounts.

Before you begin entering your data into the tool, you’ll need to select the Comparator Group against which you’d like to be compared.

The Comparator Group could be the sector most like yours, businesses in your region or the entire Community Business market.

You select your Comparator Group by highlighting the Sectors and Regions you want to include – those highlighted in purple will be included in your Comparator Group.

The Input Form in divided into three sections: Income, Expenditure and Assets & Liabilities. Each section is divided into columns.

For each column you can either add a single “Total” figure OR, complete the Detailed section below. You can also enter a mixture of Total and Detailed information if you wish.

To enter Detailed information, you’ll need to select “Enable Details”.

By entering Detailed information, your Output Report will be more granular, but the Report can still generate metrics and ratios using only Total information.

Your Output Report is generated by clicking the “Analyse” button after you have entered all of your data through the Input Form.

The Report is divided into four sections: Your Input Summary, Comparator Group, Calculated Metrics and Input Breakdown.

Input Summary: The Input Summary reflects the total figures you’ve entered into the various Input Form sections. This is so that you can check that the numbers you’ve entered are correct.

Comparator Group: The Comparator Group shows you information about the data set you have selected to compared against. Includes the Sectors and Regions, the total number of businesses in the selection and a bar chart comparing your total figures with the median average figures for your Comparator Group.

Input Breakdown: The Input Breakdown section has two functions.

Firstly, it will compare your data against the Comparator Group data for each of the figures you entered in the Input Form. These are arranged into the same categories as in the Input Form and will compare Your Value and Percentile to the Group Average, and the 25th and 75th percentiles.

The second function of the Input Breakdown highlights outlying values which may demonstrate areas of your business that require some attention.

Yellow Highlighting: A row will be highlighted yellow where Your Value is either below the 10th percentile or above the 90th percentile for the Comparator Group you have selected.

Red Highlighting: A row will be highlighted in red where Your Percentile for that row is 20 percentiles higher or low than your average percentile. These red highlighted rows indicate areas of your business that might be out of the step with the rest.

Calculated Metrics: This section includes five ratios, calculated from your data, and compared against your comparison group. By hovering the mouse over the icon, you can see how these are calculated.

The Ratios

Debt to Assets Ratio:
= Total Liabilities divided by Total Assets
The higher the number, the greater the financial risk.

Net Current Assets Ratio:
= (Current Assets - Current Liabilities) divided by Total Income
A positive number here suggests the business has enough working capital to cover its obligations, while a negative number can be a sign of financial difficulty.

Net Fixed Assets Ratio:
= (Fixed Assets - Long Term Liabilities) divided by Total Income
A figure below 1 is indicative of operational efficiency and long-term solvency, while a figure above 1 may suggest there is some inefficiency in the business’s finances.

Resilience Ratio:
= Net Assets divided by Total Income
This represents the level of ‘free’ funds available to you as a proportion of your total income. The higher the number, the more money you have available to spend as you need.

Trading Ratio:
= Commercial and Trading Income divided by Total Income
This highlights how much of your total income comes from Trading vs. other sources. The higher the number the greater proportion of income is derived from Trading.

Averages and Percentiles

The table shows ‘Your Value’ for the given ratio as well as: The Group Average (the median for your Comparator Group) as well as your Input Percentile and the 25th and 75th percentiles.

You can download a DOC version of by clicking “Download Report” at the end of your Output Report.