Empirically-based financial patterns, the long-term stability of these patterns, and the distribution properties of financial ratios have received a considerable amount of attention in recent years for both U.S. and U.K. firms. However, limited research exists concerning the financial patterns for government-owned firms in Taiwan. Moreover, the prior studies offered little evidence about the probability functions of the actual distributions of financial ratios. Using data from twelve government-owned manufacturing firms in Taiwan during the period 1978–1993, the financial patterns of six classifications are developed. The analysis identifies that these patterns are relatively stable over the empirical period even though the magnitude of many underlying ratios changed. The six major ratios identified are not normally distributed. The distributions are either J-shaped, regular, or skewed, which is consistent with prior studies. The probability functions developed in this study can help to refine the rating processes in performance evaluation. This study develops a generalized empirical model using financial ratios that can be utilized for evaluating the performance of government-owned firms in any industry.