Definition of Current assets

Current assets

Amounts receivable by the business within a period of 12 months, including bank, debtors, inventory and prepayments.

Current Assets

Cash and other company assets that can be readily turned into cash within one year.

Current assets

Cash, things that will be converted into cash within a year (such as accounts receivable), and inventory.

current assets

current refers to cash and those assets that will be turned
into cash in the short run. Five types of assets are classified as current:
cash, short-term marketable investments, accounts receivable, inventories,
and prepaid expenses—and they are generally listed in this order in
the balance sheet.

Current assets

Value of cash, accounts receivable, inventories, marketable securities and other assets that
could be converted to cash in less than 1 year.

Other current assets

Value of non-cash assets, including prepaid expenses and accounts receivable, due
within 1 year.

Acid-test ratio

Also called the quick ratio, the ratio of current assets minus inventories, accruals, and prepaid
items to current liabilities.

Carring costs

Costs that increase with increases in the level of investment in current assets.

Current maturity

current time to maturity on an outstanding debt instrument.
current / noncurrent method
Under this currency translation method, all of a foreign subsidiary's current
assets and liabilities are translated into home currency at the current exchange rate while noncurrent assets
and liabilities are translated at the historical exchange rate, that is, the rate in effect at the time the asset was
acquired or the liability incurred.

Current ratio

Indicator of short-term debt paying ability. Determined by dividing current assets by current
liabilities. The higher the ratio, the more liquid the company.

Margin call

A demand for additional funds because of adverse price movement. Maintenance margin
requirement, security deposit maintenance
Margin of safety With respect to working capital management, the difference between 1) the amount of longterm
financing, and 2) the sum of fixed assets and the permanent component of current assets.

Net working capital

current assets minus current liabilities. Often simply referred to as working capital.

Quick assets

current assets minus inventories.

Quick ratio

Indicator of a company's financial strength (or weakness). Calculated by taking current assets
less inventories, divided by current liabilities. This ratio provides information regarding the firm's liquidity
and ability to meet its obligations. Also called the Acid Test ratio.

Self-liquidating loan

Loan to finance current assets, The sale of the current assets provides the cash to repay
the loan.

Shortage cost

Costs that fall with increases in the level of investment in current assets.

Working capital

Defined as the difference in current assets and current liabilities (excluding short-term
debt). current assets may or may not include cash and cash equivalents, depending on the company.

Working capital management

The management of current assets and current liabilities to maximize shortterm liquidity.

ACID-TEST RATIO

A ratio that shows how well a company could pay its current debts using only its most liquid or “quick” assets. It’s a more pessimistic—but also realistic—measure of safety than the current ratio, because it ignores sluggish, hard-toliquidate current assets like inventory and notes receivable. Here’s the formula:
(Cash + Accounts receivable + Marketable securities) / (current liabilities)

Current ratio

A ratio that shows how many times a company could pay its current debts if it used its current assets to pay them. The formula:
(current assets) / (current liabilities)

NOTES RECEIVABLE

Notes receivable are promissory notes that the company has accepted from its debtors. Most promissory notes pay interest. Those that are due within a year are shown under “current assets.” Those that mature in more than a year would be listed under “Long-term assets.” If a note is being
collected in installments, the payments due within the next twelve months are shown as a current asset, and the remainder is shown as a long-term asset.

Working capital

current assets less current liabilities. Money that revolves in the business as part of the process of buying, making and selling goods and services, particularly in relation to debtors, creditors, inventory and bank.

Indirect method

A method of preparing the operating section of the Statement of Cash Flows that does not use the company’s actual cash inflows and cash outflows, but instead arrives at the net cash flow by taking net income and adjusting it for noncash expenses and the changes from last year in the current assets and current liabilities.

current ratio

Calculated to assess the short-term solvency, or debt-paying
ability of a business, it equals total current assets divided by total current
liabilities. Some businesses remain solvent with a relatively low current
ratio; others could be in trouble with an apparently good current ratio.
The general rule is that the current ratio should be 2:1 or higher, but
please take this with a grain of salt, because current ratios vary widely
from industry to industry.

Current Ratio

A measure of the ability of a company to use its current assets to
pay its current liabilities. It is calculated by dividing the total current
assets by the total current liabilities.

Quick Ratio

A measure of how easily a company can use its most liquid current
assets to meet its current liabilities. It is calculated by subtracting
the book value of the inventories from the total book value of
current assets and dividing the result by the total book value of
current liabilities. Also known as acid-test ratio.

working capital

total current assets minus total current liabilities

Working capital

The amount of a company’s current assets minus its current liabilities;
it is considered to be a prime measure of its level of liquidity.

carrying costs

Costs of maintaining current assets, including opportunity cost of capital.

net working capital

current assets minus current liabilities.

shortage costs

Costs incurred from shortages in current assets.

Working Capital

current assets minus current liabilities

Current Ratio

current assets divided by current liabilities. This ratio indicates the extent to which the claims of short-term creditors are covered by assets expected to be converted to cash in the near future.

Working Capital

Funds invested in a company's cash, accounts receivable and inventory. Net working capital is current assets minus current liabilities.

Acquisition of assets

A merger or consolidation in which an acquirer purchases the selling firm's assets.

Assets

A firm's productive resources.

Assets requirements

A common element of a financial plan that describes projected capital spending and the
proposed uses of net working capital.

Current account

Net flow of goods, services, and unilateral transactions (gifts) between countries.

Current coupon

A bond selling at or close to par, that is, a bond with a coupon close to the yields currently
offered on new bonds of a similar maturity and credit risk.

Current liabilities

Amount owed for salaries, interest, accounts payable and other debts due within 1 year.

Current issue

In Treasury securities, the most recently auctioned issue. Trading is more active in current
issues than in off-the-run issues.

Current rate method

Under this currency translation method, all foreign currency balance-sheet and income
statement items are translated at the current exchange rate.

Current yield

For bonds or notes, the coupon rate divided by the market price of the bond.

Current-coupon issues

Related: Benchmark issues

Exchange of assets

Acquisition of another company by purchase of its assets in exchange for cash or stock.

Financial assets

Claims on real assets.

Long-term assets

Value of property, equipment and other capital assets minus the depreciation. This is an
entry in the bookkeeping records of a company, usually on a "cost" basis and thus does not necessarily reflect
the market value of the assets.

Net assets

The difference between total assets on the one hand and current liabilities and noncapitalized longterm
liabilities on the other hand.

Non-reproducible assets

A tangible asset with unique physical properties, like a parcel of land, a mine, or a
work of art.

Publicly traded assets

assets that can be traded in a public market, such as the stock market.

Real assets

Identifiable assets, such as buildings, equipment, patents, and trademarks, as distinguished from a
financial obligation.

Reproducible assets

A tangible asset with physical properties that can be reproduced, such as a building or
machinery.

Residual assets

assets that remain after sufficient assets are dedicated to meet all senior debtholder's claims in full.

Return on assets (ROA)

Indicator of profitability. Determined by dividing net income for the past 12 months
by total average assets. Result is shown as a percentage. ROA can be decomposed into return on sales (net
income/sales) multiplied by asset utilization (sales/assets).

Return on total assets

The ratio of earnings available to common stockholders to total assets.

ASSETS

Anything of value that a company owns.

Current liabilities

Bills a company must pay within the next twelve months.

RATE OF RETURN ON TOTAL ASSETS

The percentage return or profit that management made on each dollar of assets. The formula is:
(Net income) / (Total assets)

Assets

Things that the business owns.

Current liabilities

Amounts due and payable by the business within a period of 12 months, e.g. bank overdraft, creditors and accruals.

Fixed assets

Things that the business owns and are part of the business infrastructure – fixed assets may be
tangible or intangible.

Intangible fixed assets

Non-physical assets, e.g. customer goodwill or intellectual property (patents and trademarks).

Tangible fixed assets

Physical assets that can be seen and touched, e.g. buildings, machinery, vehicles, computers etc.

Assets

Items owned by the company or expenses that have been paid for but have not been used up.

Intangible assets

assets owned by the company that do not possess physical substance; they usually take the form of rights and privileges such as patents, copyrights, and franchises.

current liabilities

current means that these liabilities require payment in
the near term. Generally, these include accounts payable, accrued
expenses payable, income tax payable, short-term notes payable, and
the portion of long-term debt that will come due during the coming year.
Keep in mind that a business may roll over its debt; the old, maturing
debt may be replaced in part or in whole by new borrowing.

fixed assets

An informal term that refers to the variety of long-term operating
resources used by a business in its operations—including real
estate, machinery, equipment, tools, vehicles, office furniture, computers,
and so on. In balance sheets, these assets are typically labeled property,
plant, and equipment. The term fixed assets captures the idea that the
assets are relatively fixed in place and are not held for sale in the normal
course of business. The cost of fixed assets, except land, is depreciated,
which means the cost is allocated over the estimated useful lives of the
assets.

return on assets (ROA)

Although there is no single uniform practice for
calculating this ratio, generally it equals operating profit (before interest
and income tax) for a year divided by the total assets that are used to
generate the profit. ROA is the key ratio to test whether a business is
earning enough on its assets to cover its cost of capital. ROA is used for
determining financial leverage gain (or loss).

Fixed Assets Turnover Ratio

A measure of the utilization of a company's fixed assets to
generate sales. It is calculated by dividing the sales for the period
by the book value of the net fixed assets.

Return on Total Assets Ratio

A measure of the percentage return earned on the value of the
assets in the company. It is calculated by dividing the net income
available for distribution to shareholders by the book value of all
assets.

Total Debt to Total Assets Ratio

See debt ratio

concurrent engineering

see simultaneous engineering

Current asset

Typically the cash, accounts receivable, and inventory accounts on the
balance sheet, or any other assets that are expected to be liquidated within a short
time interval.

Current cost

Under target costing concepts, this is the cost that would be applied to a
new product design if no additional steps were taken to reduce costs, such as
through value engineering or kaizen costing. Under traditional costing concepts, this
is the cost of manufacturing a product with work methods, materials, and specifications
currently in use.

Current liability

This is typically the accounts payable, short-term notes payable, and
accrued expense accounts on the balance sheet, or any other liabilities that are
expected to be liquidated within a short time interval.

Other assets

A cluster of accounts that are listed after fixed assets on the balance sheet,
and which contain minor assets that cannot be reasonably fit into any of the other
main asset categories.

current yield

Annual coupon payments divided by bond price.

financial assets

Claims to the income generated by real assets. Also called securities.

real assets

assets used to produce goods and services.

Current Account

That part of the balance of payments accounts that records demands for and supplies of a currency arising from activities that affect current income, namely imports, exports, investment income payments such as interest and dividends, and transfers such as gifts, pensions, and foreign aid.

Current Dollars

A variable like GDP is measured in current dollars if each year's value is measured in prices prevailing during that year. In contrast, when measured in real or constant dollars, each year's value is measured in a base year's prices.

Current Yield

The percentage return on a financial asset based on the current price of the asset, without reference to any expected change in the price of the asset. This contrasts with yield-to-maturity, for which the calculation includes expected price changes. See also yield.

Current Tax Payment Act of 1943

A federal Act requiring employers to withhold income taxes from employee pay.

Current Income Tax Expense

That portion of the total income tax provision that is based on
taxable income.

Preferred Stock Stock that has a claim on assets and dividends of a corporation that are prior

to that of common stock. Preferred stock typically does not carry the right to vote.

Realizable Revenue A revenue transaction where assets received in exchange for goods and

services are readily convertible into known amounts of cash or claims to cash.

Current Liabilities

Debts or other obligations coming due within a year.

Fixed Assets

Land, buildings, plant, equipment, and other assets acquired for carrying on the business of a company with a life exceeding one year. Normally expressed in financial accounts at cost, less accumulated depreciation.

Longer-Term Fixed Assets

assets having a useful life greater than one year but the duration of the 'long term' will vary with the context in which the term is applied.

Personal Assets

assets, the title of which are held personally rather than in the name of some other legal entity.

Inventory

For companies: Raw materials, items available for sale or in the process of being made ready for
sale. They can be individually valued by several different means, including cost or current market value, and
collectively by FIFO, LIFO or other techniques. The lower value of alternatives is usually used to preclude
overstating earnings and assets.
For security firms: securities bought and held by a broker or dealer for resale.

Monetary / non-monetary method

Under this translation method, monetary items (e.g. cash, accounts
payable and receivable, and long-term debt) are translated at the current rate while non-monetary items (e.g.
inventory, fixed assets, and long-term investments) are translated at historical rates.

Price/book ratio

Compares a stock's market value to the value of total assets less total liabilities (book
value). Determined by dividing current stock price by common stockholder equity per share (book value),
adjusted for stock splits. Also called Market-to-Book.

Replacement value

current cost of replacing the firm's assets.

Short-term solvency ratios

Ratios used to judge the adequacy of liquid assets for meeting short-term
obligations as they come due, including
1) the current ratio,
2) the acid-test ratio,
3) the inventory turnover ratio, and
4) the accounts receivable turnover ratio.

Temporal method

Under this currency translation method, the choice of exchange rate depends on the
underlying method of valuation. assets and liabilities valued at historical cost (market cost) are translated at
the historical (current market) rate.

acid test ratio (also called the quick ratio)

The sum of cash, accounts receivable, and short-term marketable
investments (if any) is divided by
total current liabilities to compute this ratio. Suppose that the short-term
creditors were to pounce on a business and not agree to roll over the
debts owed to them by the business. In this rather extreme scenario, the
acid test ratio reveals whether its cash and near-cash assets are enough
to pay its short-term current liabilities. This ratio is an extreme test that
is not likely to be imposed on a business unless it is in financial straits.
This ratio is quite relevant when a business is in a liquidation situation
or bankruptcy proceedings.

Replacement Value

The amount necessary to duplicate a company's assets at current
market prices

Capitalized Expenditures

Expenditures that are accounted for as assets to be amortized
against income in future periods as opposed to current-period expenses.

Change in Accounting Estimate

A change in accounting that occurs as the result of new information
or as additional experience is acquired—for example, a change in the residual values
or useful lives of fixed assets. A change in accounting estimate is accounted for prospectively,
over the current and future accounting periods affected by the change.

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