Current Ratio – Formula, Meaning, Assumptions and Interpretations
The current ratio is the most popularly used metric to gauge the short term solvency of a company. This article provides the details about this ratio. Formula Current Ratio = Current Assets / Current Liabilities Meaning Current ratio measures the current assets of the company in comparison to its current liabilities. This means that the…
What are Common Size Statements ?
Common size statements are not financial ratios. Rather they are a way of presenting financial statements that makes them more suitable for analysis. However, analysts always use them in conjunction with ratio analysis. In fact, financial analysts use common size statements as the starting point to help them dig deeper. Common size statements tell them…
Introduction to Cash Flow Ratios
Once upon a time, investors and analysts used to believe in ratios that have been calculated based on the earnings that the company has stated in the Income Statement. Alas! That was once upon a time. Of late, there have been a huge number of frauds and malpractices that have come to the fore. All…
Liquidity can be defined as the ability of a firm to make good its short term obligations. Most businesses function on credit. Hence to run a business firms have to both extend credit as well as ensure that they receive credit as well.
Liquidity ratios measure the relationship between the amounts of short term capital that the firm has locked in its receivables versus the short term interest free debt it has acquired in the form of accounts payables.
Liquidity ratios can be defined as the ratios which help analysts predict the short term solvency of the firm. Short term here is meant to be considered the period until the next business cycle which is usually 12 months.
A firm seldom has all the resources it needs to run the business. It gets credit from its employees, suppliers, customers, the government and such other entities. Each of these entities extends credit to the firm on the assumption that it will make good its obligations when they are due. Such obligations are usually due in the short term.
Investors are therefore very cautious about ascertaining whether the firm does in fact have the capability to meet these obligations. Liquidity ratios help in ascertaining this. With secondary data that is available in the annual reports of the company, analysts often make projections about whether the company has enough resources to survive the short run without hampering its reputation or operations.
Amateur investors think liquidity is primarily short term. It does not matter whether or not the company can pay its immediate bills, if the long term prospects of the company look good, it is a good investment. This is the farthest from the truth as history has shown liquidity issues can have far reaching effects on the health of a firm sometimes even endangering the very survival of the firm. Here is how it happens:
As a result of all these, present profitability is compromised and so are the future growth plans of the company which now has to seek funds at extremely high costs.
The best example of how liquidity problems can wreak havoc and threaten the very survival of a firm is the recent Kingfisher Airlines fiasco where the firm had to shut down operations because it could not meet its short term obligations.
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