You may include as many or as few line items as you like, from the income statement and/or the balance sheet.

The column headings in the ASCII file (a simple text file) are the same as the ValuShark function name used from within MetaStock (listed below).

The ASCII file must be a ".CSV" file - that is, the values must be "comma-separated".

The ASCII file must be located in a folder named "FUNDAMENTAL", below the data folder, and the file name must use the ticker symbol plus ".CSV" (e.g., "C:\MetaStock Data\Sample\Fundamental\IBM.CSV").

Some of the headings are just for the specific industries of banking, insurance, and utilities, which have special accounting treatment (e.g., "PremiumsEarned").

There are lots of free sources of data on the internet. Our favorite is http://www.freeedgar.com.

Since there are literally thousands of possible line items on an income statement or balance sheet, ValuShark uses a standardized set of line items. When you put your values in your ASCII file, you may have to sum up values, or make other changes (for example, some companies might split up "Accounts Receivable" into several line items, depending on the source, which you will want to sum up into one value).

Remember, you don't need to include everything shown below, just the data items you want to use. The possible headings are (in order of how they are viewed on the corresponding financial documents)

INCOME STATEMENT

Common Items

REVENUE
Revenue
OtherRevenue
TotalRevenue
CostOfRevenue

EXPENSES (OPERATING)
SellingGeneralAndAdminExp
DepreciationAndAmortization
ResearchAndDevelopment
InterestExpense
OtherOperatingExpenses
UnusualIncomeOrExpenses
TotalExpenses

EXPENSES (NON-OPERATING)
InterestIncomeNonOperating
InterestExpenseNonOperating
InterestNetNonOperating
GainLossOnTheSaleOfAssets
OtherNet

INCOME
IncomeBeforeTaxes
IncomeTaxes
IncomeAfterTaxes
MinorityInterestIS
EquityInAffiliates
PreferredDividends
GeneralPartnerDistribution
USGAAPAdjustment
MiscEarningsAdjustment
InterestAdjustForPriBasicEPS
AdjIncAvailToCmnForPrimEPS
PrimaryBasicEPSExclXordItems
DiscontinuedOperations
ExtraordinaryItems
AccountingChange
PrimaryBasicEPSInclXordtems
DividendsPerCommonShare
PrimaryBasicAverageShares
DilutionAdjustment
DilutedSharesOutstanding
DilutedEPSExclXordItems
DilutedEPSInclXordItems

Insurance Company Items
PremiumsEarned
NetInvestmentIncome
RealizedGainsLosses
LossesBenefitsAndAdjustments
AmortizationOfPolicyAcquisCosts

Utility Items
FuelExpense
DirectOperatingExpenses
AFUDC

Bank Items
InterestIncomeBank
InterestExpenseBank
LoanLossProvision
NonInterestIncome
NonInterestExpense

BALANCE SHEET

Common Items

ASSETS
CashAndEquivalents
OtherShortTermInvestments
Investments
AccountsReceivable
Inventory
PrepaymentsAndAdvances
CurrentAssetsOther
CurrentAssetsTotal
LongTermInvestments
PropertyPlantAndEquipment
AccumDepreciationAndAmort
PropertyPlantAndEquipmentNet
GoodwillAndIntangibles
OtherAssets
OtherLongTermAssets
TotalAssets

LIABILITIES
AccountsPayable
ShortTermDebt
CurrPortOfLTDAndCapLeaseOblig
OtherCurrentLiabilities
OtherLiabilities
TotalCurrentLiabilities
LongTermDebt
CapitalizedLeaseObligations
TotalLongTermDebt
MinorityInterestBS
DeferredTaxesBS
OtherLongTermLiabilities
TotalLiabilities

EQUITY
RedeemablePreferred
PreferredStock
CommonStock
AdditionalPaidInCapital
RetainedEarnings
TreasuryStock
OtherEquity
ESOPDebtGuarantee
TotalShareholderEquity
SharesOutstandingPeriodEnd

Insurance Company Items
DeferredPolicyAcquisitionCosts
PolicyLiabilities

Utility Items
UtilityPlant
UtilityPlantDepreciation
UtilityPlantNet
DeferredCharges

Bank Items
CashAndDueBank
Loans
LoanLossReserves
OtherInterestEarningAssets
Deposits
OtherInterestBearingLiabilities

RATIOS

PERatioTTM RevenuePerShareTTM PriceToSalesRatioTTM ProfitMarginNet ReturnOnEquityTTM ReturnOnAssetsTTM MarketCapitalization LTDebtToEquityMRQ DividendPayoutRatio

Here is sample data for Gentner Communication's (GTNR) Income Statement:

Date,Revenue,TotalRevenue,CostOfRevenue,SellingGeneralAndAdminExp, ResearchAndDevelopment, TotalExpenses,InterestExpense,OtherNet,IncomeBeforeTaxes, IncomeTaxes,IncomeAfterTaxes, PrimaryBasicEPSExclXordItems,PrimaryBasicEPSInclXordtems, PrimaryBasicAverageShares, DilutedSharesOutstanding,DilutedEPSExclXordItems,DilutedEPSInclXordItems

6/30/1996,3241,3241,1891,1069,211,3171,-52,34,52,1,51,0.008,0.008,6622.24,6622.24,0.008,0.008
9/30/1996,2940,2940,1582,1213,238,3033,-35,0,-128,0,-128,-0.017,-0.017,7662.38,7662.38,-0.017,-0.017
12/31/1996,3558,3558,1889,1496,190,3575,-38,-21,-76,0,-76,-0.01,-0.01,7662.38,7662.38,-0.01,-0.01
3/31/1997,3340,3340,1752,1526,310,3588,-49,8,-289,0,-289,-0.038,-0.038,7662.38,7662.38,-0.038,-0.038
6/30/1997,3534,3534,1652,1344,309,3305,-74,2,157,37,120,0.016,0.016,7662.82,7662.82,0.016,0.016
9/30/1997,3725,3725,1827,1337,296,3460,-65,8,208,0,208,0.027,0.027,7666.41,7764.02,0.027,0.027
12/31/1997,4001,4001,1799,1515,348,3662,-59,8,288,0,288,0.039,0.039,7375.44,7922.03,0.036,0.036
3/31/1998,4209,4209,2046,1392,352,3790,-63,5,361,0,361,0.047,0.047,7678.96,7919.74,0.046,0.046
6/30/1998,5333,5333,2675,1877,147,4699,-53,6,587,39,548,0.08,0.08,6847.71,7968.75,0.069,0.069
9/30/1998,5498,5498,2517,1765,364,4646,-34,-2,816,308,508,0.064,0.064,7948.36,8122.44,0.063,0.063
12/31/1998,5253,5253,2362,1643,407,4412,-56,41,826,308,518,0.064,0.064,8122.59,8420.28,0.062,0.062
3/31/1999,5819,5819,2437,2014,376,4827,-37,11,966,361,605,0.075,0.075,8123.95,8542.14,0.071,0.071
6/30/1999,6420,6420,2563,2053,348,4964,-21,-72,1457,544,913,0.107,0.107,8081,8469,0.104,0.104
9/30/1999,7084,7084,2716,2219,461,5395,-19,5,1721,641,1080,0.13,0.13,8172,8713,0.12,0.12
12/31/1999,7416,7416,2959,2315,496,5770,-17,-6,1678,626,1052,0.13,0.13,8219,8791,0.12,0.12
3/31/2000,7867,7867,2904,2588,437,5929,,,,739,1240,0.15,0.15,8301,8854,0.14,0.14