How do I calculate the liquidity risk of a company? - MIU City University Miami (2024)

How do I calculate the liquidity risk of a company? - MIU City University Miami (1)

What is liquidity risk?

Liquidity risk in economics is the capability of a company to meet its short-term debts, based on its current liquid assets.

Liquidity is the capability of an asset to be transformed immediately into cash without producing a loss in its value. Current assets are liquid assets that can be converted into cash within 12 months, such as cash on hand and in banks, customer debts, short-term financial investments.

A couple of examples to understand the concept

An example of liquidity risk would be when a company has assets in excess of its debts but cannot easily convert those assets to cash and cannot pay its debts because it does not have sufficient current assets.

Another example would be when an asset is illiquid and must be sold at a price below the market price. This liquidity risk usually affects assets that are not traded frequently, such as real estate or bonds. If we were to urgently sell an illiquid asset, we would lose profits by having to lower its price in order to sell it.

How do we measure liquidity risk?

Liquidity ratio

  • Indicates a company’s ability to meet upcoming debt payments with the most liquid part of its assets (cash on hand and short-term investments).
  • It is the ratio between current assets (liquid resources of the company) and current liabilities (short-term debts).
  • An optimal liquidity ratio is between 1.5 and 2.

Acid test

  • This formula does not take into account inventories because of their low capacity to be converted into cash in the short term.
  • It is calculated by dividing current assets less inventory by current liabilities.
  • The optimum ratio is 1, above this figure there is good capacity to meet payments, below 1 there are weaknesses.

Cash ratio

  • It is obtained by dividing cash on hand plus financial assets (cash and cash equivalents) by current liabilities.
  • The optimum ratio is 1.

How can we manage liquidity risk?

The liquidity policy should be designed according to the specific characteristics of each company, establishing a contingency plan for possible crises.

Broadly speaking, we could highlight the following practices to reduce liquidity risk:

  • Maintain sufficient cash on hand.
  • Be able to access loans and diversify funding sources.
  • Ability to convert liquid assets into cash quickly.
How do I calculate the liquidity risk of a company? - MIU City University Miami (2024)

FAQs

How to calculate liquidity risk of a company? ›

Starting with the current ratio, the formula consists of dividing the “Total Current Assets” by the “Total Current Liabilities”. From Year 1 to Year 4, the current ratio has expanded from 0.5x to 1.0x, which implies the company's liquidity position is improving over time.

How to calculate the liquidity of a company? ›

Current Ratio = Current Assets / Current Liabilities

The current ratio is the simplest liquidity ratio to calculate and interpret. Anyone can easily find the current assets and current liabilities line items on a company's balance sheet.

What is the formula for liquidity VaR? ›

But, as we are only interested in the liquidity cost if we need to exit (sell) the position, the liquidity adjustment consists of adding one-half (0.5) the spread. In the case of VaR, we have: Liquidity cost (LC) = 0.5 x spread. Liquidity-adjusted VaR (LVaR) = position ($) * [-drift (%) + volatility *deviate + LC], or.

What is the liquidity risk of a business? ›

What is liquidity risk? Liquidity risk in economics is the capability of a company to meet its short-term debts, based on its current liquid assets. Liquidity is the capability of an asset to be transformed immediately into cash without producing a loss in its value.

How do you measure liquidity risk? ›

Two of the most common ways to measure liquidity risk are the quick ratio and the common ratio. The common ratio is a calculation of a corporation's current assets divided by current liabilities.

How do you solve liquidity risk? ›

How Can Liquidity Risk Be Managed?
  1. Estimate Cash Flow With a cash flow forecast, you gauge the amount of cash that a supplier will have available short-term. To support supplier liquidity, you can pre-pay invoices, for instance. ...
  2. Compare Assets and Liabilities. ...
  3. Conduct Stress Tests.

What are the liquidity formulas? ›

Fundamentally, all liquidity ratios measure a firm's ability to cover short-term obligations by dividing current assets by current liabilities (CL).

What is an example of calculating liquidity ratio? ›

Current Ratio = Current Assets/Current Liability = 11971 ÷8035 = 1.48. Quick Ratio = (Current Assets- Inventory)/Current Liability = (11971-8338)÷8035 = 0.45. Basic Defense Interval = (Cash + Receivables + Marketable Securities) ÷ (Operating expenses +Interest + Taxes)÷365 = (2188+1072+65)÷(11215+25+1913)÷365 = 92.27.

Which ratio is used to measure liquidity of a company? ›

Cash Ratio or Absolute Liquidity Ratio

Cash ratio is a measure of a company's liquidity in which it is measured whether the company has the ability to clear off debts only using the liquid assets (cash and cash equivalents such as marketable securities).

What is the formula for liquidity ratio in Excel? ›

Use the formula “=Current Assets/Current Liabilities” in a cell to get the ratio.

How do you calculate total liquidity requirement? ›

The overall liquidity ratio is calculated by dividing total assets by the difference between its total liabilities and conditional reserves. This ratio is used in the insurance industry, as well as in the analysis of financial institutions.

What is the VaR formula? ›

Here are three commonly used formulas for VaR calculation: Historical VaR: VaR = -1 x (percentile loss) x (portfolio value) Parametric VaR: VaR = -1 x (Z-score) x (standard deviation of returns) x (portfolio value) Monte Carlo VaR: VaR = -1 x (percentile loss) x (portfolio value)

What is liquidity for dummies? ›

What Is Liquidity? Liquidity refers to the efficiency or ease with which an asset or security can be converted into ready cash without affecting its market price. The most liquid asset of all is cash itself.

What are the two causes of liquidity risk? ›

Two main causes for corporate liquidity risk may be identified:
  • The absence of a sufficient “safety buffer” to cover overall expenses (the most unexpected ones in particular);
  • Difficulty finding necessary funding on the credit market or on financial markets.

What is the liquidity risk on a balance sheet? ›

Liquidity is a bank's ability to meet its cash and collateral obligations without sustaining unacceptable losses. Liquidity risk refers to how a bank's inability to meet its obligations (whether real or perceived) threatens its financial position or existence.

What is the formula for calculating liquidity ratio? ›

Liquidity Ratio Formula
Liquidity RatiosFormula
Current RatioCurrent Assets / Current Liabilities
Quick Ratio(Cash + Marketable securities + Accounts receivable) / Current liabilities
Cash RatioCash and equivalent / Current liabilities
Net Working Capital RatioCurrent Assets – Current Liabilities
1 more row

What is the key risk indicator for liquidity risk? ›

Liquidity Risk Indicators: Low levels of cash reserves, high dependency on short-term funding, or a high ratio of loans to deposits can hint at liquidity risk. Such indicators help banks ensure they can meet their financial obligations as they come due.

How do you model liquidity risk? ›

Modeling liquidity risk can start with stress tests. The current market is one example of a stress scenario. A convergence of adverse asset, liability and credit availability situations can be postulated and the cash flows projected along with the value changes.

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