Great dashboards turn dense financials into decisions at a glance.

In this multi‑part series, we’ll walk through creating an interactive financial KPI dashboard in Tableau. Each post focuses on one core ratio family—liquidity, profitability, efficiency, and leverage—and shows how to calculate the metrics, shape your data, and choose visuals that let stakeholders explore trends without touching a spreadsheet.

By the finale, you’ll have a refresh‑ready workbook that answers two timeless questions:

How healthy are we right now?

Where are we heading if current trends continue?

Grab your latest trial balance, fire up Tableau, and follow along—your finance team (and CFO!) will thank you.

Why Ratios?

Raw revenue, expense, and balance‑sheet figures are rarely apples‑to‑apples. Ratios normalise those figures so you can judge liquidity, profitability, operational efficiency, and leverage side by side, across periods, peers, and scenarios. When ratios swing, they hint at more profound operational shifts long before the annual report lands.

1. Financial KPI Dashboard– Liquidity Ratios

Liquidity gauges a firm’s short‑term solvency—the ability to meet tomorrow’s bills with today’s cash and near‑cash assets.

Popular picks

• Current Ratio = Current Assets ÷ Current Liabilities
• Quick (Acid‑Test) Ratio = (Current Assets − Inventory) ÷ Current Liabilities
• Cash Ratio = Cash & Equivalents ÷ Current Liabilities

Tableau Tip: Use a horizontal gauge (bullet) chart or a highlight table that colours ratios above/below an industry benchmark. Add a parameter to toggle benchmarks for different sectors.

2. Financial KPI Dashboard– Profitability Ratios

Profitability tells you how effectively the firm turns revenue into profit and returns value to shareholders.

Popular picks

• Gross Margin = (Gross Profit ÷ Revenue)
• Operating Margin = (EBIT ÷ Revenue)
• Net Profit Margin = (Net Income ÷ Revenue)
• Return on Assets (ROA) = (Net Income ÷ Total Assets)
• Return on Equity (ROE) = (Net Income ÷ Shareholders’ Equity)

Tableau Tip: A dual‑axis line chart can track margin % against revenue over time, revealing scale effects. Use tooltips to surface contextual drivers like COGS or SG&A spikes.

3. Financial KPI Dashboard– Efficiency Ratios

Efficiency—or activity—ratios show how well a company employs its assets to generate sales.

Popular picks

• Inventory Turnover = COGS ÷ Average Inventory
• Receivables Turnover = Net Credit Sales ÷ Average Accounts Receivable
• Total Asset Turnover = Revenue ÷ Average Total Assets

Tableau Tip: Pair a bar‑in‑bar chart to compare turnover against an industry median. A scatter plot mapping turnover vs. gross margin can uncover stock‑management sweet spots.

4. Financial KPI Dashboard– Leverage Ratios

Leverage reflects the balance between debt and equity financing and signals how sensitive earnings are to interest‑rate shifts.

Popular picks

• Debt‑to‑Equity (D/E) = Total Debt ÷ Shareholders’ Equity
• Debt Ratio = Total Debt ÷ Total Assets
• Interest Coverage = EBIT ÷ Interest Expense

Tableau Tip: A stacked area chart can shade debt vs. equity over time, while a band chart highlights when interest coverage dips below a safety threshold you define with a reference line.

Next Steps

In the following tutorial, we will start building the financial KPI dashboard step by step.