Understanding Financial Liquidity

July 14, 2022 3 min read

Understanding Financial Liquidity

UNDERSTANDING FINANCIAL LIQUIDITY

Liquidity can be referred to as quickly and easily converting a financial asset or security into cash without depreciating in value. The company's investments and assets have monetary worth. Liquidity, meanwhile, refers to how quickly you can access that money if necessary.

An asset with high liquidity can be quickly and readily sold for its expected value or market price. Low liquidity makes markets less active, making purchasing and selling assets more challenging.

Suppose an organization's overall assets exceed its liabilities. In that case, it is considered solvent and able to pay its obligations with working capital still available.

Liquidity measurements can help you make informed decisions about your company's future financial planning and current financial performance.

Examples of Liquid Assets

Assets that can be swiftly turned into cash are known as liquid assets, whether they are held by firms or individuals. However, cash and savings accounts typically retain the highest level of liquidity possessed by corporations or people.

The following assets can be liquidated easily:

  • Cash
  • Cash Equivalent
  • Stock
  • Government Bond
  • Accounts receivable
  • Marketable Securities and so on..

These are the assets that can be liquidated, but their degree of solvency is only different.

TYPES OF LIQUIDITY

There are two (2) different types of liquidity:

Market Liquidity:

Market liquidity describes how easily assets can be purchased and sold at predictable, transparent prices on a market, such as the stock exchange of a nation or the real estate market of a city.

If buying and selling shares can be done swiftly with little effect on share price, then the stock market is said to be liquid. Real estate markets are typically far less liquid than stock markets.

The size of the market and the number of open exchanges on which it is possible to trade other assets, such as futures, contracts, currencies, or commodities, are frequently determinants of how liquid the market is.

Accounting Liquidity:

Accounting liquidity is determined by how easily a business or individual meets obligations or pays their debts using their liquid assets.
A year's worth of financial obligations, also known as liabilities, due to its ability to convey information about a company's financial health, must be contrasted with the liquid assets to determine accounting liquidity.
Various ratios are available to measure one's accounting liquidity since companies and individuals classify their liquid assets differently.

MEASURING RATIOS TO CALCULATE LIQUIDITY

Liquidity ratios are a useful tool for determining if the assets of your business can meet its liabilities when they become due. Three standard liquidity ratios exist:

Current Ratios:

This demonstrates the company's capacity to pay off its debt using cash and assets with similar cash value, such as inventory, accounts receivable, and marketable securities.

This ratio evaluates a company's ability to settle its debts using its available assets. A higher ratio shows that the company is better equipped to pay its current liabilities.

The formula for computing a current ratio is as follows:
Current ratio = current assets / current liabilities

Quick Ratio:

The quick ratio, also known as the acid-test ratio, is comparable to the current ratio but is stricter and frequently leaves out the inventory and other current assets.

This is so because inventory is less liquid than other assets like cash, accounts receivable, or short-term investments. The quick ratio can be calculated using the following formula:
Acid test ratio = current assets – inventory / current liabilities

Cash Ratio:

This liquidity ratio demonstrates the company's ability to settle short-term debt using its liquid assets, cash and cash equivalents.

It determines how often a company might pay its present liabilities with the cash it produced during that period to determine its short-term liquidity. It assesses a company's ability to remain solvent in trying times more precisely than the current or quick ratios.

Here's a formula for calculating a cash flow ratio:
Cash flow = (Cash and equivalents + short-term investments) / current liabilities.

CONCLUSION

For people, businesses, and the market, liquidity is important. To avoid a liquidity crisis that could result in bankruptcy, companies must also have adequate liquid assets to satisfy short-term obligations like bills or payments.


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