Financial Ratios And The Performance Of Your Business And Identify Potential Problems

Favorable liquidity ratios are critical to a company and its creditors within a business or industry that does not provide a steady and predictable cash flow. They are also a key predictor of a company’s ability to make timely payments to creditors and to continue to meet obligations to lenders when faced with an unforeseen event.

Liquidity ratios measure the capability of a business to cover expenses and meet its current and long-term responsibility. These ratios are imperative in order to keep the business alive. Lending institutions are typically unwilling to loan money to a business that finds itself in a cash flow jam, because that is often a sign of poor management. The liquidity is measured with 3 different ratios; current ratio, turnover – of – cash ratio and debt- to equity ratio.

1. Liquidity ratios are a class of financial metrics that is used to determine a company's ability to pay off its short-terms debts obligations. Generally, the higher the value of the ratio, the larger the margin of safety that the company possesses to cover short-term debts.

Liquidity is important for any firm as it is an assessment of the ability to pay its' liabilities in the short term. There are two main liquidity ratios: the current and the quick ratio. The current ratios divides the current assets by the current liabilities to assess how many times the current assets can pay the current liabilities (Elliott and Elliott, 2011). Traditional ratios are usually in the region of 1.5, but this may vary depending on the industry and nature of the business (Elliott and Elliott, 2011). The current ratio is shown in table 1.

Liquidity ratios "measure short-term ability of the company to pay its maturing obligations and to meet unexpected needs for cash" (Kimmel Weygandt, & Kieso, 2007, p. 74). The

Liquidity ratios measures a company`s ability to provide enough cash to cover its short-term obligations. The most common liquidity ratios include; the current ratio and the quick ratio.

Liquidity ratio lets us know whether the company is able to pay their short-term and long-term obligations. It measures how well the company can raise cash or convert assets into cash. Companies like to use this ratio to compare it against its competitors or industry average. Liquidity ratios include current ratio, quick ratio, and working capital.

Liquidity ratios are the temporary capabilities of a business to compensate for its established requirements and unanticipated needs for cash. Suppliers and bankers are the short-term creditors who are mostly

Liquidity ratios are the measure of a company’s ability to meet its short term liabilities by converting its assets into cash without losing value. The results of the liquidity ratios depend on the outcome of Current ratio and quick ratio. In the appendix-I, in 2011 Target had better Current ratio

Current Ratio “To calculate the current ratio, we divide current assets by current liabilities. More liquidity is better because it means that the firm has a greater ability, at least in the short term, to make payments” (Parrino, Kidwell, & Bates, 2012).

The paper illustrates that financial ratio analysis is an important tool for firm’s to evaluate their financial health in order to identify areas of weakness so as to institute corrective measures.

These ratios are computed to judge the short term liquidity of the business. Two most important liquidity ratios are current ratio and quick ratio. These ratios determine the ability of firm to meets its current liabilities out of its current/quick assets.

Liquidity ratios measure the short term ability of a company to pay its obligations and meet their needs for maintaining cash. According to Cagle, Campbell & Jones (2013), “A good assessment of a company’s liquidity is important because a decline in liquidity leads to a greater risk of bankruptcy” (p. 44). Creditors, investors and analysts alike are all interested in a company’s liquidity. After computing liquidity

The liquidity ratios are a group of ratios that show the relationship of a firm’s cash and other current assets to its current liabilities. This basically means that the ratios measure how well the company is able to pay its short-term obligations and how well they can confront unexpected needs for cash.

A liquidity ratio calculated as (cash plus short-term marketable investments plus receivables) divided by current liabilities.