Peer Group Analysis [LO2] Explain what peer group analysis is. As a financial manager, how could you use the results of peer group analysis to evaluate the performance of your firm? How is a peer group different from an aspirant group?
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Peer group analysis involves comparing the financial ratios and operating performance of a particular firm to a set of peer group firms in the same industry or line of business. Comparing a firm to its peers allows the financial manager to evaluate whether some aspects of the firm’s operations, finances, or investment activities are out of line with the norm, thereby providing some guidance on appropriate actions to take to adjust these ratios if appropriate.
An aspirant group would be a set of firms whose performance the company in question would like to emulate. The financial manager often uses the financial ratios of aspirant groups as the target ratios for his or her firm; some managers are evaluated by how well they match the performance of an identified aspirant group.