From the course: Finance and Accounting Tips

Unlock the full course today

Join today to access over 22,700 courses taught by industry experts or purchase this course individually.

The current ratio and liquidity

The current ratio and liquidity

From the course: Finance and Accounting Tips

Start my 1-month free trial

The current ratio and liquidity

“

- An important concern about any company is its liquidity, or ability to pay its debts in the short run. If a firm can't meet its obligations in the short run, it may not survive to enjoy the long run. The most commonly used measure of liquidity is the current ratio, which is a comparison of current assets with current liabilities. And let me remind you of what a current asset is and what a current liability is. A current asset is an asset expected to be used or turned into cash within one year. So, for example, accounts receivable. That's a current asset because we expect those accounts to be collected in cash within one year. Inventory's a current asset because we expect that inventory to be sold and then the cash collected all within one year. Land is not typically a current asset because if we come back a year from now, we expect that land to still be here. Cash is the best current asset because it's already cash. So, our current assets are the liquid assets, the ones that we…

Contents