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On the Use of Information Theory Concepts in the Analysis of Financial Statements

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Henri Theil’s Contributions to Economics and Econometrics

Part of the book series: Advanced Studies in Theoretical and Applied Econometrics ((ASTA,volume 25))

Abstract

Balance sheets and income statements are numerical decompositions of certain total sums: total assets, total liabilities, total sales, and total costs and expenses. The behavior of individual items measured as fractions of the corresponding total is important for the analysis of the company’s financial position. It will be argued in this article that certain concepts derived from information theory are useful as summarizing descriptive devices for changes in such fractions as well as for the analysis of differences between companies of the same industry.

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References

  • Hartley, R.V.L.: 1928, “Transmission of Information,” Bell System Technical journal, 7, 535–563.

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  • Theil, H.: 1967, Economics and Information Theory, Rand McNally and Co. and North-Holland Publishing Company, Chicago and Amsterdam.

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  • Theil, H. and A.J. Finizza: 1967, “An Informational Approach to the Measurement of Racial Segregation of Schools,” Report 6712 of the Center for Mathematical Studies in Business and Economics, The University of Chicago.

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© 1992 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Theil, H. (1992). On the Use of Information Theory Concepts in the Analysis of Financial Statements. In: Raj, B., Koerts, J. (eds) Henri Theil’s Contributions to Economics and Econometrics. Advanced Studies in Theoretical and Applied Econometrics, vol 25. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-2408-9_26

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-2408-9_26

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-5062-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-011-2408-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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