Why Liquidity Is Important for Your Business
What’s the liquidity of your business’s assets? All businesses have assets. Assets are items of monetary value. They can be tangible or intangible. Regardless, if your business owns something of value, it’s considered an asset. Assets with high liquidity, however, are typically more valuable than those with low liquidity. To learn more about liquidity and why it’s important for your business, keep reading.
What Is Liquidity?
The term “liquidity” refers to the ease at which you can convert a given asset into cash. Most assets can be sold. When you sell an asset, you’ll convert it into cash. Assets with low liquidity are harder to convert — and often take longer to convert — into cash than those with high liquidity.
Secure Loans
Liquidity is important because it can affect your ability to secure business loans. Most banks and other financial lenders will look at your business’s liquidity ratio during the application process. When you apply for a loan, the bank or lender will analyze your business’ liquidity ratio to determine its overall financial health. A high liquidity ratio indicates that your business is capable of paying back borrowed money. A low liquidity ratio, on the other hand, indicates that your business may struggle to pay back borrowed money. To secure loans, you should focus on improving your business’s liquidity ratio.
Cover Unexpected Expenses
As a business owner, you’ll probably encounter expenses that you didn’t originally plan for. Unexpected expenses come with the territory when operating a commercial enterprise. Maybe you need to purchase a new piece of equipment, or perhaps you need to take out a new loan to finance your business. Regardless, unexpected expenses can and do occur in the world of business. Fortunately, a high liquidity ratio can help your business cover these expenses. When an unexpected expense arises, you can easily and quickly convert assets into cash. Using this cash, you can then pay off the expense.
Increase Cash Flow
With a high liquidity ratio, you can increase your business’s cash flow on the fly. Converting an asset into cash will result in a higher cash flow. Your business will have more cash on hand to cover both expected and unexpected expenses. A low liquidity ratio, conversely, can harm your business’s cash flow. You may struggle to convert assets into cash, resulting in a lower cash flow.
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