Maybe "finance" was the wrong word.

Whatever you want to call the worship of ratios like "return on equity" without an understanding of the business, that practice is dumb and destroys companies that actually create value.

Dell is a great example -- be a computer manufacturer that owns almost no assets related to the business. Their Taiwanese suppliers like Asus are laughing their way to the bank as the Dell management patted themselves on the back for improving some ratios.