Working Capital Calculator

Find your working capital and current ratio.

How it is calculated

Working capital measures short-term financial room: working capital = current assets − current liabilities. The tool also gives the current ratio, current assets ÷ current liabilities, shown with two decimals. Use only items that are cash or expected to turn into cash within a year (cash, receivables, inventory) against obligations due within the same period (payables, short-term debt, accrued expenses). A positive result means short-term assets cover short-term debts, and a ratio above 1 says the same thing relative to size. If liabilities are zero, the ratio cannot be computed and a dash is shown. A negative working capital is allowed and shows a shortfall.

Worked example

A company has current assets of $250,000 and current liabilities of $160,000. Working capital: 250,000 − 160,000 = $90,000.00. Current ratio: 250,000 / 160,000 = 1.5625, shown as 1.56. In plain terms, the company holds $1.56 of short-term assets for every $1 it owes within the year, and has $90,000 of cushion left over once those debts are paid.

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Common mistakes

  • Including long-term assets such as buildings or equipment in current assets.
  • Counting long-term debt that is not due within a year as a current liability.
  • Swapping the two inputs, which turns a healthy positive figure into a negative one.
  • Judging the ratio on its own: a high figure can mean idle cash or slow-moving inventory, not only strength.

Sources

About this calculator

This calculator subtracts current liabilities from current assets to find working capital (the part of current assets — cash, receivables and inventory — left over once short-term obligations are covered; it is not the same as cash), and divides current assets by current liabilities to find the current ratio — a ratio above 1.0 generally means a company can cover its short-term obligations, while a ratio well below 1.0 signals a potential liquidity problem.

Small business owners checking whether they can cover payroll and supplier payments over the next few months, accountants preparing financial statements, and lenders or investors assessing a company's short-term financial health before extending credit all use these two figures together, since working capital shows the absolute short-term cushion while the current ratio shows it relative to the size of the business.

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Comments (1)

  • Editorial team

    For a stricter view, run the tool a second time with inventory subtracted from your current assets. The ratio then shows how well cash and receivables alone cover short-term debts, since stock can take months to sell. A negative figure is not always a crisis, though; some businesses are paid by customers before they pay suppliers. How do you treat inventory when you assess your own business?

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