Liquidity ratios are used to measure a company’s ability to pay off its short-term debt obligations. This is done by comparing a company’s most liquid assets to its short-term liabilities. When the coverage of liquid assets is greater than short-term liabilities, it is a better indicator that a company can pay off its debts that are due in the near future. Two common ratios used by analysts are the quick ratio and current ratio. Below are Lincoln Electrics trend lines for quick and current ratio from 1988 to 2012. The two line graphs parallel each other because quick ratio is a component of current ratio. Through the years, it is shown that Lincoln’s liquidity ratios had low numbers in years where they suffered financially. For example, the current ratio and quick ratios had a sharp decrease in 1993 when they had financial issues and again in 2001 during the bursting of the dot.com bubble. Lincoln also shows fluctuating ratios over the years, and their highest ratios are in 2009 and 2010. Efficiency Analysis Efficiency ratios are used to analyze how well a company uses its asse...
Net working capital represents organization’s operating liquidity. In order to compute the net working capital, total current assets are divided from total current liabilities. When there is sufficient excess of current assets over current liabilities, an organization might be considered sufficiently liquid. Another ratio that helps in assessing the operating liquidity of as company is a current ratio. The ratio is calculated by dividing the total current assets over total current liabilities. When the current ratio is high, the organization has enough of current assets to pay for the liabilities. Yet, another mean of calculating the organization’s debt-paying ability is the debt ratio. To calculate the ratio, total liabilities are divided by total assets. The computation gives information on what proportion of organization’s assets is financed by a debt, and what is the entity’s ability to pay for current and long term liabilities. Lower debt ratio is better, because the low liabilities require low debt payments. To be able to lend money, an organization’s current ratio has to fall above a certain level, also the debt ratio cannot rise above a certain threshold. Otherwise, the entity will not be able to lend money or will have to pay high penalties. The following steps can be undertaken by a company to keep the debt ratio within normal
Current Ratio. The current ratio can indicate a company’s liquidity and is considered one of the most valuable ratios in analyzing
Measuring the liquidity through the current ratio, with 2.74 in the year 2009,0.74 above the standard, with the decline in the following year meeting exactly the standard at 2% in the year 2010, and a steep decline in the year 2011-2012 as compared to its standard.Resulting in the decline in firm’s ability to meet its day-to-day operating expenses. The current liabilities from 2009 to 2012 have increased by 27.03 billion whereas the investments in current assets have increased just by 26.09 billion, which causes the decline in the current ratio. To cope up with this problem the company should invest more in current assets and should reduce its current liabilities.
Financial ratios are "just a convenient way to summarize large quantities of financial data and to compare firms' performance" (Brealey & Myer & Marcus, 2003, p. 450). Financial ratios are very useful tools in order to determine the health of a company, help managers to make decision, and help to compare companies that belong to the same industry in order to know about their performance.
It shows the investors that how liquid the inventory of the company is. This ratio measures and shows that how easily a company can turn its inventory or merchandise into cash. The increase in the ratio clearly indicates that the management of the company is managing its merchandise in an efficient and effective manner and it is also contribution to the profits of the company.
Liquidity Ratio (LR) measures the short term solvency of the business. LR measures the ability of the business enterprise to meet its short term obligation as and when they are due. The liquidity ratios are also called the short- term solvency ratios.
Liquidity measures a company's capacity to pay its debts as they come due. However, Wal-Mart’s current ratio is 0.93, Target current ratio is 1.11 and the industry ratio is 3.04, which is much higher, so I would say that it is good but needs improvement. The quick ratio for Wal-Mart is 1.04 and Target’s quick ratio is 0.21 and the industry ratio is 0.31, which is much higher. Wal-Mart’s is higher and needs some improvement and Target’s is good. Accounts receivable for Wal-Mart is 9 days and Target’s is 6 days, whereas an estimate for the industry is 17 days, which means that both of them are doing better than the industry standards. Target’s inventory ratio is 6.04 and Wal-Mart’s inventory ratio is 0.81, and the industry ratio 1.58. These numbers shows that Wal-Mart is good but Target needs improvement. Furthermore, based on this analysis, I would say that Wal-Mart and Target are doing well but both have areas that need improvement.
The quick ratio is an alternate calculation of liquidity that does not take account of inventory in the current assets. The quick ratio is the ratio of current assets minus inventory then compared to current liabilities. The current assets used in the quick ratio are cash, accounts receivable, and notes receivable. It is a sign of a business’s short-range convertible assets. The greater the quick ratio the healthier the business's liquidity situation is.
Overall, Horizontal analysis and financial ratios are essential factors that businesses use to monitor its liquidity. Therefore, in order to improve Apple’s ratios and profitability, the company needs to implement a strategy to increase the company’s liquidity. Business owners or managers should monitor current ratio and acid test ratio as these ratios help us to ensure the company has the proper liquid assets to pay current liabilities, to stay in operations and to expand the company. As we noted in our acid test ratio and current ratio for the company, we show a lower ratio for acid test ratio than the current ratio, which means that the company’s current assets rely on inventory. Therefore, the company needs to convert old inventory into
The current ratio is a liquidity ratio that measures a company’s ability to pay short-term and long-term obligations. They seek to satisfy their liquidity needs through cash provided by operations, long-term secured and unsecured borrowings, issuances of debt and equity securities, asset-backed securitizations, property dispositions and joint venture transactions. They have financed our operations and acquisitions to date through the issuance of equity securities, borrowings under their credit facilities and asset-backed securitizations. Going forward, they expect to meet their operating liquidity requirements generally through cash on hand and cash provided by operations. They believe their rental income, net of operating expenses and recurring
The increasing trend in the quick ratio from 4.7 to 7.7 during 2013 – 2014 shows that its quick assets are more as compared to its current liabilities. This shows that the firm is easily paying off its current liabilities. Similarly, the increasing trend in the current ratio reflects that the firm is easily paying off its current debts by using profits generated from its current operations. Likewise, the increasing trend in the asset turnover ratio means that the firm is using its assets productively.
Any successful business owner or investor is constantly evaluating the performance of the companies they are involved with, comparing historical figures with its industry competitors, and even with successful businesses from other industries. To complete a thorough examination of any company's effectiveness, however, more needs to be looked at than the easily attainable numbers like sales, profits, and total assets. Luckily, there are many well-tested ratios out there that make the task a bit less daunting. Financial ratio analysis helps identify and quantify a company's strengths and weaknesses, evaluate its financial position, and shows potential risks. As with any other form of analysis, financial ratios aren't definitive and their results shouldn't be viewed as the only possibilities. However, when used in conjuncture with various other business evaluation processes, financial ratios are invaluable. By examining Ford Motor Company's financial ratios, along with a few other company factors, this report will give a clear picture of how the company is doing now and should do in the future.
By taking into account only the most liquid assets, ratio 1.0 in 2013 and 2012, which increased by a small margin 0.2 from 2011, indicates that company has strong liquidity position.
The horizontal analysis shows that IQ’s total current assets increased by 25% and its total current liabilities increased by 40% during 2005. This is largely explained by the increase in trade receivables, the increase in inventory, the increase in trades payable, and the increase in term loans (notes 5, 6, 12, and 13 of the 2005 financial statement). The higher increase in total current liabilities than in total current assets explains why the current and acid-test ratios decreased from 4.66 to 4.17 and from 4.02 to 3.5, respectively. However, IQ seems to remain highly liquid considering the values of the mentioned liquidity ratios.
Ratios traditionally measure the most important factors such as liquidity, solvency and profitability, as well as other measures of solvency. Different studies have found various ratios to be the most efficient indicators of solvency. Studies of ratio analysis began in the 1930’s, with several studies of the concluding that firms with the potential to file bankruptcy all exhibited different ratios than those companies that were financially sound.