The total asset turnover ratio is a general efficiency ratio that measures how efficiently a company uses all of its assets.
This gives investors and creditors an idea of how a company is managed and uses its assets to produce products and sales.
Sometimes investors also want to see how companies use more specific assets like fixed assets and current assets. The fixed asset turnover ratio and the working capital ratio are turnover ratios similar to the asset turnover ratio that are often used to calculate the efficiency of these asset classes.