20. Asset utilization ratios can be used to measure the effectiveness of a firm’s managers.
21. Ratios are not misleading by inflation.
22. Profitability ratios are distorted by inflation because profits are stated in current dollars, while assets
and equity are stated in historical dollars.
23. As long as prices of products continue to rise faster than costs in an inflationary environment, reported
profits will generally continue to rise.
24. Industries with cyclical products such as lumber and copperare more sensitive to inflation-induced
profits because many sales prices and/or expenses are set by the market.
25. Although Apple Computers has a profit margin significantly greater than that of a long-time industry
giant such as IBM, IBM continues to have a higher return on equity than Apple. The primary reason for this
unusual condition is that IBM has a much greater equity than Apple.