the details given below are a summary of the statements of financial position of six 1572312

The details given below are a summary of the statements of financial position of six public companies engaged in different industries:

The activities of each company are as follows:

1 Operator of a chain of retail supermarkets .

2 Sea ferry operator .

3 Property investor and house builder . Apart from supplying managers, including site management, for the house building side of its operations, this company completely subcontracts all building work.

4 A vertically integrated company in the food industry which owns farms, flour mills, bakeries and retail outlets.

5 Commercial bank with a network of branches .

6 Contractor in the civil engineering industry

Note: No company employs off statement of financial position financing such as leasing.

(a) State which of the above activities relate to which set of statement of financial position details, giving a brief summary of your reasoning in each case.

(b) What do you consider to be the major limitations of ratio analysis as a means of interpreting accounting information?