levo

Business Analysis and Decision-Making

Return on capital employed and gearing

  • 2 things to know
  • A2 Unit 3

Overview

Formula for return on capital employed, formula for the gearing ratio and main risk of high gearing.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Key term

What does return on capital employed measure?

Numbers

State the formula for return on capital employed.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What does return on capital employed measure?

    Model answer

    Return on capital employed measures the operating profit a business generates as a percentage of the long-term capital invested in it.

  2. 2

    State the formula for return on capital employed.

    Model answer

    Return on capital employed = (operating profit ÷ capital employed) × 100.

  3. 3

    A business earns operating profit of £60,000 on capital employed of £400,000. Calculate its return on capital employed.

    Model answer

    Its return on capital employed is 15%.

  4. 4

    Explain why return on capital employed is often called the primary efficiency ratio.

    Model answer

    It brings profit and the capital used to make it into a single figure, so it shows how well the business has used all the money invested in it.

  5. 5

    Explain what an investor should compare a firm's return on capital employed with.

    Model answer

    With the firm's own figure in previous years, with rival firms in the same industry, and with the return available from a low-risk alternative such as a bank deposit.

  6. 6

    State two ways a business could raise its return on capital employed.

    Model answer

    It could raise operating profit by increasing margins or sales, or reduce the capital employed by disposing of assets it does not need.

Other ways to work this

The same content, four other ways.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

1Closed book
2Open book
3Closed book

The 3-step method, run for you

Answer cold, learn it, then prove it stuck. Levo tracks the jump between your first attempt and your last.

Enterprise and Starting a Business
Markets and Market Research
Marketing
People in Business

Cram a whole paper in one sitting

Sort every topic into what you know and what you do not, then drill only the weak ones.

Gross profit = − cost of sales.
revenueprofitexpenses

Blank Blitz makes facts automatic

Rapid timed gap-fills on the terms and numbers you need to recall without thinking.

AShort-term disruption depresses the early figures.
BThe benefits build up as people become proficient.
CAn early judgement is usually too harsh.

Build It gets the exam shape right

Assemble a full-mark answer from its marking points, in the order an examiner wants them.

Need means something essential for survival, such as food, water or shelter.
TrueFalse

Test It catches misconceptions

Spot the fault in a statement. The traps are the mistakes students actually make.

721941163128510

Brain Breaks between sessions

Short focus games to reset attention, so the next set lands better than the last.

Every question in Business Analysis and Decision-Making, on a schedule.

Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.

Or £46 a year, about £3.83 a month. Cancel anytime.