Taiwan financial ratios — a ratio is a choice of numerator and denominator
The standard misreading of a ratio page is to read a number as “this company's margin is that”. This page deliberately declines to pretend such a single number exists. A ratio is a choice of numerator and denominator: consolidated or parent-only, a single quarter or cumulative or trailing four quarters, period-end or period-average denominators, non-operating and one-off items included or stripped. Each choice moves the result, often by more than the gap between the companies you wanted to compare. So every number here travels with its basis attached. Before comparing across companies, check that the two bases actually line up.
What the fields are, and how the basis is labelled
Every ratio returns its name, numerator definition, denominator definition, statement basis (consolidated or parent-only), period type (single quarter, cumulative or trailing four quarters), whether non-operating items are included, the period and the as-of date. Definitions travel per row, not as one disclaimer at the bottom of the page.
When the denominator is a stock item such as equity or assets, we also state whether it is a period-end or period-average figure. That detail is the one most often omitted, and it moves return-type ratios materially.
Change the basis and the number changes
Take gross margin: consolidated statements include subsidiaries and parent-only ones do not; a single quarter reflects the period while trailing four quarters smooths seasonality; including non-operating items pulls in disposal gains that an operating-only basis excludes. For one company in one period, four combinations can give four numbers that are all correct and none equal.
So "which number is right" is usually the wrong question. The right one is "what am I trying to answer, and therefore which basis fits". Our job is to make the basis visible; the choice stays yours.
What to align before comparing companies
Accounting policy and industry convention differ: revenue recognition timing, inventory valuation, whether development spending is capitalised, how leases are treated. Place two companies with different policies side by side and the gap may come from the policy rather than the business.
This is why we publish no peer ranking and no benchmark band presented as a correct answer. A universal threshold is close to guaranteed to mislead across industries; what is needed is case-by-case confirmation that both sides compute the same thing.
What this page must not be used for
No ranking, no screening, no price targets, no entry or exit timing, and no claim that a high ratio means a good company or a low one means sell. A ratio is description, not evaluation.
The right use is as a starting question: why did this ratio move, was it the numerator or the denominator, and was the cause the business or a basis change or a one-off item? The answer is in the statement notes.