Detective analysisidentify company. Effective financial statement analysis requires an understanding of a firms economic characteristics. The relations among various financial statement items provide evidence of many of these economic characteristics. Exhibit 7.28 presents common-size condensed balance sheets and income statements for 12 firms in different industries. These common-size balance sheets and income statements express various items as a percentage of operating revenues (that is, the statement divides all amounts by operating revenues for the year). A dash for a particular financial statement item does not necessarily mean that the amount is zero. It merely indicates that the amount is not sufficiently large for the firm to disclose it. The 12 companies, the country of their headquarters, and a brief description of their activities are as follows.