Describe the accounting tools used to analyze financial statement data.

Ratio Analysis: This is a quantitative analysis of information contained in a company’s financial statements. It is used to evaluate various aspects of a company’s operating and financial performance such as its efficiency, liquidity, profitability and solvency.

Trend Analysis: This is an aspect of technical analysis that tries to predict the future movement of a stock based on past data. Trend analysis is based on the idea that what has happened in the past gives traders an idea of what will happen in the future.

Vertical Analysis: This method of financial statement analysis, also known as common-size analysis, is a technique for identifying relationship(s) and comparing a company's financial performance with its competitors. It shows each item on a company's financial statement as a percentage of a base figure.

Horizontal Analysis: This is a technique in financial analysis in which the amounts of certain line items are compared over a number of accounting periods. This type of analysis is also known as trend analysis.

Cash Flow Analysis: This is a method of analyzing the inflows and outflows of cash in a business to determine its operating, investing and financing cash flows. It is a key indicator of a company's financial health.

Comparative Financial Statements: These are the complete set of financial statements that an entity issues, revealing information for more than one accounting period. The statements are presented in a format that makes it easy to compare figures across periods.

Benchmarking: This is a process of comparing one's business processes and performance metrics to industry bests or best practices from other industries. It allows organizations to develop plans on how to make improvements or adapt specific best practices, usually with the aim of increasing some aspect of performance.