1.4.1.5.2 The Current Ratio
The current ratio is a measure of a company’s ability to meet its short-term debt obligations out of its most liquid assets (those easily converted into cash). It draws its name from the fact that the ratio compares what accountants refer to as a company’s current assets to its current liabilities (or debts). In its most basic form, the current ratio can be written as follows:
A company’s current assets are those that can be converted to cash easily within the coming 12-month period without a significant decrease in value. This would naturally include all cash and bank account balances, marketable securities, inventory, and short-term receivables. A receivable is a fancy way of saying “money owed to the company by someone else,” and short-term means that the company expects to collect on it in the next 12 months. A company’s current liabilities are the amounts of debt the company will be expected to repay in the next 12 months.
So, a better way to understand the current ratio is by