Current liquidity ratio: formula and standard value. Liquidity ratios: standard values ​​and actual bankrupt indicators

Accumulating information about the property and capital of a company in the balance sheet is not a whim of legislators, but a very important component in the life and development of any company. After all, according to the information contained in this report, they determine the situation in the enterprise at a certain moment, the possibilities of its growth, liquidation, re-profiling of production, etc. One of the main indicators is the liquidity of the balance sheet, which assesses the position of the company.

Balance sheet liquidity: what is it?

This term refers to the degree to which obligations are repaid using the assets available in the company. The period of their conversion into money corresponds to the period of debt coverage, and since the property has a different degree of turnover, the solvency of the company is considered according to the liquidity levels of different categories of balance sheet assets. The question of its definition is always relevant, i.e. the degree of liquidity is determined using certain algorithms, independent of the purpose of the analysis. They are the same for a rapidly developing entity, when it is necessary to determine a strategy for further development, and for liquidation measures, when the question arises about the amount of the company’s funds to pay off accumulated debts in the event of a predicted bankruptcy and making a decision on approving an interim liquidation balance sheet (a sample can be viewed here).

The main criterion of liquidity is the excess of the amount of current assets over short-term liabilities. And the higher it is, the more stable the company’s financial position can be.

Balance sheet liquidity assessment

To analyze the solvency of a company, a distinction is made between balance sheet items:

• property according to the degree of liquidity - from quickly sold to hard to sell;
• liabilities - according to the urgency of their repayment.

When assessing liquidity, the values ​​of each category of assets are compared with a similar group of sources. For example:

1. when A 1 > P 1, we can talk about a sufficient amount of funds in the company to repay the most urgent obligations as of the balance sheet date;
2. A 2 > P 2 means that the organization can become solvent very soon if the conditions for timely settlements with creditors and debtors are met;
3. A 3 > P 3 speaks of the upcoming possibility of increasing solvency during the period of average duration of funds turnover.

The fulfillment of the listed inequalities will lead to conditions when A 4 ≤ P 4, and this indicates compliance with the minimum acceptable level of stability of the company and the funds owned by the company.

Balance sheet liquidity analysis

• current liquidity, indicating the company’s ability to pay obligations in the near future for the analyzed period: if in this case A 1 + A 2 ≥ P 1 + P 2 is satisfied, then the company’s position is stable (A 4 ≤ P 4);
• prospective, i.e., predicted liquidity based on comparison of upcoming operations: if A 3 ≥ P 3, then A 4 ≤ P 4;
• insufficient level of forecast liquidity;
• balance sheet illiquidity: A 4 ≥ P 4.

Such an assessment is very approximate; a more detailed analysis of the liquidity of the balance sheet is carried out using calculations of special coefficients.

Liquidity ratio: balance sheet formula

Several coefficient values ​​are calculated. For example:

1. Current liquidity ratio, indicating the organization’s provision of funds to pay obligations throughout the year and is determined as follows:

K = (A 1 + A 2 + A 3) / (P 1 + P 2)

The norm is a value in the range from 1 to 2. Exceeding the level of 2 indicates irrationality in the distribution of funds, and a coefficient below 1 indicates a shortage;

2. The quick liquidity ratio establishes the share of debt collateral with liquid assets, excluding inventory and materials, and is calculated using the formula:

K = (A 1 + A 2) / (P 1 + P 2)

An indicator in the range of 0.7 - 1.5 is considered acceptable;

3. The absolute liquidity ratio is calculated if you need to find out what part of the debts to creditors the company can cover immediately:

K = A 1 / (P 1 + P 2)

This indicator characterizes the stable state of the company if it is not lower than the critical level of 0.2.

4. The total value of liquidity is calculated to determine a comprehensive assessment of the solvency of the enterprise.

K = (A 1 + 0.5 x A 2 + 0.3 x A 3) / (P 1 + 0.5 x P 2 + 0.3 x P 3)

The calculation of this value is used when assessing fluctuations in the financial situation of the company and is taken into account when the company selects a counterparty. A normal value is 1 or higher.

The financial stability of an enterprise is assessed by several indicators. One of the key ones is the current liquidity ratio. This is the ratio of current assets to current liabilities, indicating whether the company is turning over funds quickly. It is optimal that its value is in the range of 1-2.5.

The financial stability of an enterprise can be assessed by the current liquidity ratio. This is a demonstration of solvency; the indicator indicates whether the company is able to meet short-term obligations.

Why count?

The indicator is not needed when maintaining accounting, tax or management accounting. It is necessary to calculate it to confirm solvency to investors or banks. In some cases, it will come in handy when negotiating with suppliers.

Banks use the indicator to assess the solvency of the enterprise and make decisions on issuing loans.

Investors need it to assess the return on investment and the timing of profit.

However, small businesses need more indicators for self-testing:

Formula for calculation

Several formulas are used to calculate the current ratio. The whole point comes down to one thing: finding the ratio of current assets to short-term liabilities. Data is taken from the balance sheet:

Coeff. tl = Ao / Ok, where

Jsc - current assets (result of section II of the balance sheet);

Ok - short-term liabilities (total of section V of the balance sheet).

Ao is the sum of three types of assets:

• fast-moving (cash in hand, funds in a current account, investments in securities);
• quickly sold (shipped goods, funds on deposits, debts of debtors for up to 12 months);
• the implementation of which takes time (VAT, accounts receivable with payments starting from a year).

Ok - the amount of short-term liabilities:

• debt to suppliers;
• wage arrears;
• tax debt;
• short-term loans and borrowings.

A more detailed calculation using the example of OJSC Gazprom is shown in the video:

Conclusion: The company is financially stable.

To get the full picture, let’s compare it with another enterprise.

Conclusion: The liquidity ratio is within normal limits, however, given that this is an industrial enterprise, 1.88 indicates insufficient liquidity. The company is less stable compared to the previous example.

Possible values

A coefficient of 1 to 2.5 is considered normal. If it is within these limits, then the company spends money rationally and can be liable for its obligations.

However, the lower and upper thresholds depend on the field of activity. For trading companies, 1 is close to the norm, since they have a lot of short-term loans. However, for industry this value is critical, because They have a large amount of work in progress and a lot of inventory.

Average critical values ​​for most enterprises:

• less than 1 - the company cannot pay bills;
• more than 2.5 - the company is spending money irrationally.

Dynamics of changes in the coefficient for the enterprise JSC Transneft:

Too high an indicator also indicates a long turnover period of funds.

The excess of current assets over liabilities indicates the presence of inventories. And the company can send them to compensate for losses. The opposite situation indicates problems with liquidity and inability to meet obligations.

How to increase the coefficient?

There are 2 ways to do this:

• reduce the amount of accounts payable;
• increase current assets.

The coefficient may be needed to calculate other company performance indicators.

Volosnikov Sergey Nikolaevich Head of the Department of Assessment and Financial and Economic Expertise
ANO "National Expert Bureau" (ANO "NEB")

It should be noted that many debtors did not report to Rosstat at all. The reporting of legal entities that prepare financial statements using a simplified system was not analyzed. Since the calculation of coefficients is formalized, the reporting of such persons was excluded from the sample. The performance indicators of companies with zero revenue were excluded from the analysis, since operating companies are of interest. As a result of the selection, only 212 companies remained in the sample. Some procedures for the analyzed debtors were completed by settlement agreements, or due to the lack of property sufficient to reimburse legal costs and finance the procedure. Their indicators were taken into account in the calculations, since they still indicate insolvency.

Below is the distribution of current ratios.

The histograms show how the coefficients of the companies under consideration worsen at a later date: the distribution shifts to the left, pressing towards the beginning of the axis. At the same time, only 10 companies at the end of 2015 and 7 companies at the end of 2016 have the “normative” value of Ktl from Table No. 1 equal to 2, which is less than 5% of all companies in the sample.

The average value of the current ratio in 2015 was 1.12, median 1. In 2016, the average value was 0.8, median 0.69. The calculation did not take into account the data of Basis LLC (TIN 4502017541). In 2016, the volume of short-term accounts payable decreased from 23 million rubles to 154 thousand rubles, the company remained mainly long-term liabilities. Because of this, on the eve of bankruptcy, the current liquidity ratio increased significantly.

The average change in coefficients over the year and the median are close and equal to –16.23% and –20.2%, respectively. If we exclude the indicators of companies whose current liquidity ratios have improved, then the average value of deterioration in CTL is 39.19%, the median is 34.9%. Thus, a decrease in the current liquidity ratio by more than 35% may indicate the presence of signs of insolvency and the risk of bankruptcy.

When analyzing the absolute liquidity ratios of companies from the sample, it should be noted that 31 enterprises as of December 31, 2015 did not have highly liquid assets, therefore, the value of the coefficient is 0. A little more than 12 months later, surveillance was introduced in relation to the debtors in question, that is, claims of creditors were found to be justified. On the eve of bankruptcy, 57 debtors already had no highly liquid assets, which is 27% of the total number of enterprises in the sample. And if we take into account companies whose Cable values ​​are from 0 to 0.05 (less than the smallest “standard” from Table 1), then their share will be equal to 83.5%. Thus, theoretically, there is a small probability that 16.5% of companies, when monitoring is introduced, are able to repay the stated claims of creditors (at least partially, for example, by concluding a settlement agreement).

The distribution of absolute liquidity ratios is presented below.

The average value of the absolute liquidity ratio as of December 31, 2015 was 0.1, the median was 0.01. The average at the end of 2016 was 0.056, median 0.0013.

If we exclude from the analysis the indicators of companies whose KAR values ​​have improved, as well as companies with zero highly liquid assets, then the average value of the decline in KAR is 59%, the median is 68%.

It also makes sense to consider the values ​​of the coefficients depending on the type of activity. The table below presents indicators by industry, which include the majority of debtors from the sample, as well as calculated data from the SPARK information resource and the TestFirm service.

table 2

* In some industries, the coefficients from SPARK have abnormally high values; it is likely that the processing does not filter out obviously incorrect accounting data.

conclusions

• When analyzing liquidity ratios, you should compare the data obtained not with standard values, but with actual indicators for the industry to which the company belongs. Depending on the type of activity, the coefficients vary significantly. At the same time, to draw conclusions about the solvency of the company, changes in liquidity ratios over time should be taken into account.
• A decrease in the current liquidity ratio by 35%, and an absolute liquidity ratio by 60% or higher can serve as an indicator of the presence of signs of insolvency and the risk of bankruptcy of the counterparty. If signs of deliberate bankruptcy are identified, the bankruptcy manager can consider such a drop to be a significant deterioration in values ​​and, therefore, analyze transactions made during the period of such a drop.
• When observation is introduced, 27% of companies from the sample do not have highly liquid assets: cash and financial investments. 16.5% of companies have an absolute liquidity ratio value higher than the normative one, and only 11.8% have a ratio value higher than the actual data for the industry. That is, almost every tenth debtor for whom a monitoring procedure has been introduced can repay at least part of the debt and avoid bankruptcy.

Bibliography

1. Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of June 25, 2003 N 367 “On approval of the Rules for conducting financial analysis by an arbitration manager”

2. Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of December 27, 2004 N 855 “On approval of the Temporary Rules for checking by an arbitration manager for signs of fictitious and deliberate bankruptcy”

5. Bukharin N.A., Ozerov E.S., Pupentsova S.V., Shabrova O.A. Estimation and management of business value: textbook. allowance / Under the general editorship. E.S. Ozerova - St. Petersburg: EMNiT, 2011– 238 p.

Liquidity– the ability of assets to be quickly sold at a price close to the market. Liquidity is the ability to convert into money.

Current liquidity

The current (total) liquidity ratio (coverage ratio; English current ratio, CR) is a financial ratio equal to the ratio of current (current) assets to short-term liabilities (current liabilities).

Ktl = (OA - DZd) / KO, where: Ktl – current ratio;

The ratio reflects the company's ability to pay off current (short-term) obligations using only current assets. The higher the indicator, the better the solvency of the enterprise.

A coefficient value of 2 or more is considered normal (this value is most often used in Russian regulations; in world practice, 1.5 to 2.5 is considered normal, depending on the industry). A value below 1 indicates a high financial risk associated with the fact that the company is not able to reliably pay current bills. A value greater than 3 may indicate an irrational capital structure.

Quick (urgent) liquidity

Quick ratio- financial ratio equal to the ratio of highly liquid current assets to short-term liabilities (current liabilities). The source of data is the company’s balance sheet in the same way as for current liquidity, but inventories are not taken into account as assets, since if they are forced to be sold, losses will be maximum among all current assets.

Kbl = (Short-term accounts receivable + Short-term financial investments + Cash) / Current liabilities

The ratio reflects the company's ability to pay off its current obligations in the event of difficulties with the sale of products.

A coefficient value of at least 1 is considered normal.

Absolute liquidity

Absolute liquidity ratio- financial ratio equal to the ratio of cash and short-term financial investments to short-term liabilities (current liabilities). The source of data is the company’s balance sheet in the same way as for current liquidity, but only cash and funds close to it in essence are taken into account as assets:

Cal = (Cash + short-term financial investments) / Current liabilities

Unlike the two above, this coefficient is not widely used in the West. According to Russian regulations, a coefficient value of at least 0.2 is considered normal.

44. Forecasting solvency indicators.

When deciding on attracting credit resources, it is necessary to determine the creditworthiness of the enterprise.

At the present stage, the following coefficients are accepted:

Current liquidity ratio (coverage), K p;

Coefficient of provision with own working capital, K os;

Coefficient of restoration (loss) of solvency, K uv.

These indicators are calculated based on balance sheet data using the following formulas:

The coefficient K p characterizes the overall provision of the enterprise with working capital for conducting business activities and timely repayment of the enterprise's urgent obligations.

The coefficient K uv shows whether the enterprise has a real opportunity to restore or lose its solvency within a certain period. The basis for recognizing the balance sheet structure as unsatisfactory and the enterprise as insolvent is the fulfillment of one of the following conditions: K p< 2 или К ос >0.1. It should be remembered that when deciding whether to issue a loan from a bank or other credit organization, the following system of financial ratios is calculated:

Absolute liquidity ratio K al;

Intermediate coverage coefficient K pr;

Overall coverage coefficient K p;

Independence coefficient Kn.

The absolute liquidity ratio shows the proportion of short-term liabilities that can be repaid using highly liquid assets and is calculated using the formula, the standard value of the indicator is 0.2 – 0.25:

The intermediate coverage ratio shows whether the company will be able to pay off its short-term debt obligations on time. It is calculated by the formula:

Calculating the total coverage ratio is similar to determining the current ratio. The financial independence ratio characterizes the enterprise's provision of its own funds to carry out its activities. It is determined by the ratio of equity to the balance sheet currency and is calculated as a percentage.

The optimal value that ensures a fairly stable financial position in the eyes of investors and creditors: 50 – 60%.

45. Own and borrowed resources of the enterprise

Borrowed and own funds of the enterprise - collectively determine the liquidity of its assets, and directly affect the size of financial and other funds that provide the opportunity to use them at a specific moment or period of time.

Borrowed funds allow an enterprise to increase production, turnover, gain additional profit and even pay off previous debts and much more.

In addition to borrowed funds, to obtain certain financial advantages, an enterprise can also use attracted funds, which, unlike borrowed funds, are not actually repaid - for example, equity shares and gratuitous government financing.

Ordinary entrepreneurs can also actively use borrowed funds. The state policy of the Russian Federation for the development of entrepreneurial activity, through attracting borrowed funds from various sources, provides for obtaining interest-free loans in accordance with current legislation. In addition, such loans are not taxed.

Taxes will only be on the income received, in the case of a cash loan - in the case of a material loan, the material benefit is not calculated. You can use borrowed funds constantly or regularly if it is effective and has a stable profit, or is a necessity.

However, it is advisable to monitor very carefully and pay attention to debt-to-equity ratio and maintain a clearly defined balance - it is good to have a certain strategy of action in case of unforeseen circumstances, since in the case of using borrowed funds, there is a certain threshold of financial losses, beyond which you will not be able to restore your business and will immediately or after a certain time become bankrupt.

Here, it is also necessary to take into account - gearing ratio- it can be approximately calculated by dividing the total amount of existing loans and interest charges on them by total assets and future income.

The value of this coefficient will be one of the fundamental factors in granting you loans, that is, the lower the coefficient, the greater the likelihood of receiving a loan.

In general, it is advisable to use gratuitous and especially reimbursable borrowed funds only when you are already well on your feet and understand your business segment.

Now, the state legislation of the Russian Federation provides for free subsidies for opening a private business, in the form of partial financing of initial capital - but it does not provide guarantees of the success of its development.

Liquidity ratio– this is a special parameter that is calculated on the basis of the company’s financial statements in Form No. 1. By calculating the liquidity ratio, there is a chance to determine the real efficiency of the enterprise. In addition, the calculated parameter allows us to draw conclusions about his ability to repay debts within the agreed time frame using current (current) assets. The main meaning of the ratio is to compare the volume of current debts and the company's working capital required to repay them.

Liquidity ratio– a group of parameters that includes several coefficients, namely current, absolute and quick liquidity. This group also includes the ratio of accounts receivable and accounts payable.

The essence of the liquidity ratio

For each company, one of the main criteria for operating efficiency is the liquidity indicator. This parameter displays how quickly it can sell its products and convert tangible (other) assets into paper ones. At the same time, the enterprise (much depends on the area in which the work is carried out and the level of management) may be liquid to a greater or lesser extent.

All company funds can be divided into assets and with their liquidity. For example, assets are divided into several groups:

All assets in descending order can be represented by the following list:

To determine the liquidity of the company and its ability to repay debts on time, special calculations are made. The main criteria for liquidity are a group of coefficients - absolute liquidity (can be referred to as). Here you can also include the parameter of current (total) liquidity and urgent (quick) liquidity. A parameter is also calculated that takes into account the ratio of the company's receivable and credit debt.

The above-mentioned ratios make it possible to accurately determine the degree of solvency and liquidity of the enterprise and assess its development prospects. Analysis of the obtained parameters, as a rule, is carried out not based on the actual current values, but in dynamics. That is, the calculated indicators are compared with similar calculations for the previous period of time.

Liquidity ratio: types and features of calculation

In the “working capital” parameter, long-term receivables are not taken into account.
The parameter helps determine whether the company can pay off short-term debts on time through the use of working capital. The higher the level of the coefficient, the better solvency the company can boast of. Moreover, the analysis is relevant not only at the current time, but also in case of emergency situations.

The normal value of the coefficient is 1.5-2.5. Here the situation depends on the industry where the company operates, the quality and structure of assets, management literacy, and so on. Too high and low coefficient values ​​are unfavorable. If the indicator is below one, then we can talk about the maximum financial risk of the enterprise, which is not able to cope with existing accounts. In turn, a coefficient greater than three is a clear sign of irrational management.

2. Urgent (quick) liquidity ratio. This indicator is most interesting to suppliers, banks, and shareholders. With its help, you can assess how quickly an enterprise can cope with unexpected costs and quickly convert its assets (liabilities) into cash. That is, the coefficient shows whether the company can cope with problems using existing resources.

The quick liquidity ratio is often confused with another parameter - current liquidity. In fact, as part of the first parameter, only assets of medium and high liquidity are taken into account in the role of working capital (for example, cash, goods in warehouses, raw materials, finished products, accounts receivable with a short collection period). At the same time, stocks of special materials (semi-finished products, components) are not taken into account here.

Source for calculation - Form No. 1 of the balance sheet. In this case, the total amount of assets does not take into account inventories of a material and production nature, because in the event of their forced sale, large losses are possible on all accounts.

Calculation of the quick liquidity ratio (KBL):

Kbl = (Short-term investments + Cash + Short-term receivables) / Short-term liabilities.

Also, the quick liquidity ratio can be calculated using the formula:

Ksl = (Current funds - Inventories) / Short-term debts.

This measure allows you to estimate how much of your liabilities a company can cover with capital in various accounts and through the use of accounts payable or the sale of short-term securities. The higher the indicator, the better the solvency. In this case, the normal parameter for the coefficient is 0.8. A number of analysts believe that the norm is from 0.6 to 1.0. That is, ideally the company's cash assets and probable future earnings should offset the company's debt.

To increase the ratio, the company must focus its efforts on increasing its own working capital and obtaining long-term loans. In this case, a value of Ksl or Kbl greater than three indicates an irrational distribution of available capital. For example, the reason may be an increase in accounts receivable, slow capital, and so on.

3. Absolute liquidity ratio (Kab) helps you see how much of your short-term debt a company can pay off by using its most liquid assets (short-term securities and cash). The source of calculation is the balance sheet (as in the previous case). The formula for calculation is as follows:

Kab = (Cash of the enterprise + Short-term investments) / Current liabilities.

The optimal value of Kab should be greater than 0.2. The higher this parameter, the better solvency the company has. On the other hand, too high an indicator is also bad. He says that the company's structure is formed irrationally.

5. Ratio of accounts receivable and accounts payable allows you to assess how receivables are able to cover loan debts. As a rule, timely payments on receivables allow the company to fulfill its obligations on time. The normal setting may vary. It all depends on a number of factors - the degree of aggressiveness of the policy, the company’s goals, purchasing power, and so on. Moreover, a value less than 1 is a clear sign of a high risk of loss of solvency.

Kdzkz = Short-term accounts receivable / Accounts payable

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