Eight ratios set against peer medians show a two-room center with busier rooms, slower collections and a flattering current ratio, in HS440's ratio analysis for Unit 4. Searches like "hs 440 unit 4 assignment example", "hs440 unit 4 sample" and "hs440 unit 4 example" land here.
What a finished HS440 Unit 4 ratio analysis looks like
An eight-row table carries the analysis, with columns for the ratio, its formula, the center's value, a composite peer median and a verdict. Operating margin sits at minus 2.75 percent against a median of 8.0. Days in accounts receivable reach 52.3 against 38, and days cash on hand fall to 15.9 against 45. The current ratio of 3.30 beats the median of 2.0. Cases per room-day, 11.64, exceed the peer figure of 10.5. Supply cost per case runs 168 dollars against 155, salary cost per case 363.92 against 340, and net revenue per case 733.70 against 790. Under the table, four short paragraphs group the ratios into productivity, revenue, cost and liquidity, and a final paragraph prices the receivables gap at 167,438 dollars of cash.
How a HS440 Unit 4 example is structured
The benchmark column is the organizing device, so every ratio is read as a distance from peers rather than as a change from last year; prior-year figures appear only in a footnote. Formulas are written out once in the table because peer medians are only comparable when computed the same way, and days cash on hand in particular removes depreciation from daily expenses. Ratios are then grouped by the question they answer, and the order is deliberate: productivity first, because the center's one clear strength frames everything else, then revenue and cost per case, then liquidity. The current ratio receives a paragraph of its own, since beating the median here is misleading when receivables make up 71 percent of current assets. The analysis closes by converting the receivables gap into dollars, which turns a ratio into an amount a manager could recover.
Eight ratios, one yardstick
Each measure placed beside a composite peer median for centers of similar size, with the formula written once so the comparison is like for like.
Out-working the peers
11.64 cases per room-day against a median of 10.5. Productivity is the center's clear strength, which rules out slow rooms as the explanation for weak results.
Earning less per case
Net revenue of 733.70 dollars a case against 790, and supply cost of 168 against 155. The margin gap opens on both sides of the case.
A current ratio that misleads
3.30 against a median of 2.0 looks strong until the composition is read: receivables are 71 percent of current assets, and cash covers only 15.9 days.
Receivables in dollars
At the peer median of 38 days, receivables would stand near 444,562 dollars; the extra 14.3 days hold about 167,438 that could be collected.
Where marks go in HS440 Unit 4
Ratios computed correctly and left without a verdict are the dominant loss here, and this prompt makes that easier to spot because the benchmark column sits right beside each value. Comparing the center only with its own prior year, when the assignment asked for peers, answers a different question. Benchmarks drawn from mismatched organizations, a large hospital's margin set against a two-room center, lose credit for poor comparability. Reading a current ratio above the median as good news without checking what fills current assets is a frequent and specific error on this assignment. Leaving depreciation in the denominator of days cash on hand understates liquidity. Analyses that list eight findings with equal weight, instead of saying which gap matters most and what it is worth, leave the interpretive marks unclaimed.
Get a HS440 Unit 4 example written to your instructions
Pass along the statements or ratio inputs from your Unit 4 case and any benchmark set the course provides; the rubric helps too. If no benchmarks are supplied, composite medians are used and labeled as such. The analysis comes back within 24-48h, each ratio with its formula and a verdict, and the first sample requested is free.
HS440 Unit 4 questions, answered
Where do benchmark figures come from?
Courses often supply them. Otherwise, industry surveys, rating agency medians and state cost report data offer comparisons for hospitals, and professional associations publish figures for outpatient centers. Medians in the sample are marked composite, since presenting invented figures as published ones would mislead. If you use real benchmarks, cite the source, year and peer group, because a median without a peer group cannot be judged.
Why is a high current ratio not automatically good?
Because it measures how far current assets exceed current liabilities, not what those assets are. Here most of them are receivables aging past peer norms, so the ratio rises partly because the center collects slowly. Cash on hand, the more liquid measure, sits at 15.9 days against a peer 45. Reading the two together gives the honest verdict.
How many ratios does the analysis need?
Whatever the prompt specifies; otherwise six to ten across productivity, revenue, cost and liquidity are usually enough for a department or small center. More ratios dilute the interpretation. The sample uses eight and spends its words on the three gaps that matter most: revenue per case, collection speed and cash.