What Is a Liquidity Ratio? (2024)

FAQs

What Is a Liquidity Ratio? ›

Generally, a good Liquidity Ratio should be above 1.0. This indicates the company has enough current assets to cover its short-term liabilities.

Liquidity ratios measure a company's ability to pay debt obligations and its margin of safety through the calculation of metrics including the current ratio, quick ratio, and operating cash flow ratio.

In short, a “good” liquidity ratio is anything higher than 1. Having said that, a liquidity ratio of 1 is unlikely to prove that your business is worthy of investment. Generally speaking, creditors and investors will look for an accounting liquidity ratio of around 2 or 3.

Liquidity ratios are employed by analyst to determine the firm's ability to pay its short-term liabilities. The current ratio is the best-known measure of liquidity. The most conservative liquidity measure is the cash ratio.

For instance, a quick ratio of 1.5 indicates that a company has $1.50 of liquid assets available to cover each $1 of its current liabilities. While such numbers-based ratios offer insight into the viability and certain aspects of a business, they may not provide a complete picture of the overall health of the business.

The three main liquidity ratios are the current, quick, and cash ratios. The current ratio is current assets divided by current liabilities. The quick ratio is current assets minus inventory divided by current liabilities. The cash ratio is cash plus marketable securities divided by current liabilities.

A good range for the current ratio to fall within is typically 1.5 to 3. If the current ratio is 3, that means the company has enough current assets to pay for its current liabilities threefold. If the ratio is less than 1, the company does not have enough current assets on hand to pay for its current liabilities.

Low current ratio: A ratio lower than 1.0 can result in a business having trouble paying short-term obligations. As such, it may make the business look like a bigger risk for lenders and investors.

Generally speaking, a good quick ratio is anything above 1 or 1:1. A ratio of 1:1 would mean the company has the same amount of liquid assets as current liabilities. A higher ratio indicates the company could pay off current liabilities several times over.

The current ratio for Company ABC is 2.5, which means that it has 2.5 times its liabilities in assets and can currently meet its financial obligations Any current ratio over 2 is considered 'good' by most accounts.

What is liquidity quizlet? ›

What is liquidity? How quickly and easily an asset can be converted into cash.

A quick ratio of 0.5 would mean that a company only has £0.50 in assets for every £1 it owes in short-term liabilities, meaning it would not have enough to meet its short-term liabilities.

For example, if a company has a current ratio of 1.5—meaning its current assets exceed its current liabilities by 50%—it is in a relatively good position to pay off short-term debt obligations. Conversely, if the company's ratio is 0.8 or less, it may not have enough liquidity to pay off its short-term obligations.

In general, a cash ratio equal to or greater than 1 indicates a company has enough cash and cash equivalents to entirely pay off all short-term debts. A ratio above 1 is generally favored, while a ratio under 0.5 is considered risky as the entity has twice as much short-term debt compared to cash.

A good current ratio is between 1.2 to 2, which means that the business has 2 times more current assets than liabilities to covers its debts. A current ratio below 1 means that the company doesn't have enough liquid assets to cover its short-term liabilities.

A higher liquidity ratio means that your business has a more significant margin of safety with regard to your ability to pay off debt obligations.

The current ratio is a liquidity ratio that measures a company's ability to pay short-term obligations or those due within one year. It tells investors and analysts how a company can maximize the current assets on its balance sheet to satisfy its current debt and other payables.