Five key measures of financial performance are commonly analyzed: liquidity, solvency, profitability, financial efficiency, and repayment capacity. Together, these criteria measure both financial condition and performance, allowing the owner, as well as a lender or other outside reader, to better understand how well the business is currently doing. The ultimate goal of using any record keeping system is to help make better management decisions. Farm records should allow the owners to compare their operation to others, or to its own history as well as allowing the owners to plan and evaluate proposed projects.