What is the debt ratio? (2024)

FAQs

What is the debt ratio? ›

Interpreting the Debt Ratio

A debt ratio below 30% is excellent. Above 40% is critical. Lenders could deny you a loan.

What Is the Debt-to-Equity (D/E) Ratio? The debt-to-equity (D/E) ratio is used to evaluate a company's financial leverage and is calculated by dividing a company's total liabilities by its shareholder equity.

The debt ratio is defined as the ratio of total debt to total assets, expressed as a decimal or percentage. It can be interpreted as the proportion of a company's assets that are financed by debt.

To calculate the debt-to-assets ratio, divide your total debt by your total assets. The larger your company's debt ratio, the greater its financial leverage. Debt-to-equity ratio : This is the more common debt ratio formula. To calculate it, divide your company's total debt by its total shareholder equity.

Debt-to-income ratio is your monthly debt obligations compared to your gross monthly income (before taxes), expressed as a percentage. A good debt-to-income ratio is less than or equal to 36%. Any debt-to-income ratio above 43% is considered to be too much debt.

High debt ratio: If the result is a big number (like 0.7 or 70%), it means the company owes a lot compared to what it owns. This could be risky.

What is the ideal current ratio? An ideal current ratio should be between 1.2 to 2, which indicates 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.

Let's say you have 600,000$ in total assets and 150,000$ in liabilities. To calculate the debt ratio, divide the liability (150,000$ ) by the total assets (600,000$ ). This results in a debt ratio of 0.25 or 25 percent.

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.

What is a bad debt ratio? ›

The bad debt to sales ratio represents the fraction of uncollectible accounts receivables in a year compared to total sales. For example, if a company's revenue is $100,000 and it's unable to collect $3,000, the bad debt to sales ratio is (3,000/100,000=0.03).

What is a good long-term debt ratio? A long-term debt ratio of 0.5 or less is considered a good definition to indicate the safety and security of a business.

For lenders and investors, a high ratio means a riskier investment because the business might not be able to make enough money to repay its debts. If a debt to equity ratio is lower – closer to zero – this often means the business hasn't relied on borrowing to finance operations.

A debt ratio is a tool that helps determine the number of assets a company bought using debt. The ratio helps investors know the risk they will be taking if they invest in an entity having higher debt used for capital building.

Debt Ratio = 0.50, or 50%

A company that has a debt ratio at this level has a perfect balance in its debt and equity funding and would also be considered a low risk for a potential financing source.

Your ratio tells you how much debt you have per $1.00 of equity. A ratio of 0.5 means that you have $0.50 of debt for every $1.00 in equity. A ratio above 1.0 indicates more debt than equity.

If you have a DTI ratio between 36% and 49%, this means that while the current amount of debt you have is likely manageable, it may be a good idea to pay off your debt. While lenders may be willing to offer you credit, a DTI ratio above 43% may deter some lenders.

A debt ratio below 0.5 is typically considered good, as it signifies that debt represents less than half of total assets. A debt ratio of 0.75 suggests a relatively high level of financial leverage, with debt constituting 75% of total assets.

DTI is one factor that can help lenders decide whether you can repay the money you have borrowed or take on more debt. A good debt-to-income ratio is below 43%, and many lenders prefer 36% or below. Learn more about how debt-to-income ratio is calculated and how you can improve yours.

If the ratio is below 1, the company has more assets than debt. Broadly speaking, ratios of 60% (0.6) or more are considered high, while ratios of 40% (0.4) or less are considered low. However, what constitutes a “good debt ratio” can vary depending on industry norms, business objectives, and economic conditions.