For whats itworth I don't worry that much about ROA or ROE but see ROIC (return on invested capital) as more meaningful

ROIC = Operating Profit / (Equity + Debt) expressed as a %age.

Academics are more complicated but Operating Profit can be expressed as EBIT - Notional Tax (at company tax rate X EBIT)

If ROIC is greater than the company's cost of capital it is adding economic value / less it it is destroying value

This way one is getting a real return on all the capital invested - whether it comes from shareholders or bankers