Subject: Re: IV and growth estimates
Anyone have yearly ROE numbers for Berkshire?

In effect, Berkshire's ROE is simply the percentage increase in shareholders' equity each year because there are no dividends. The main adjustment is that the increase should include any amount spent during the year on share buybacks.

So, for example, in FY 2025, (ending shareholders' equity + buybacks)/(starting shareholders' equity) - 1 = (717419 + 0)/649368-1 = 10.5%

You then have to decide how many "one off" items to exclude. For example, the increase in book due to the decrease in deferred tax liability when tax rates changed at end 2017 was not meaningful for an assessment of the quality of business efficiency. But a write-off is probably meaningful, you just have to remember that it's non-recurring. Sometimes you can get a good idea by spreading those out over time like a 4 year straight line amortization.

One could make a case that dividing the company into investments and "other than investments" and doing the calculation separately might give a better idea--you'd find the ROE of the operating side much steadier--but it's not 100% obvious how to do the split when considering things like debt and float liabilities.

Jim