Definition of Current asset

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 assets

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

Current assets

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

Current assets

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

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

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

Other current assets

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

Accounts receivable

A current asset on the balance sheet, representing short-term
amounts due from customers who have purchased on account.

Acid-test ratio

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

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)

Carring costs

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

carrying costs

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

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.

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)

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.

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.

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.

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.

Marketable security

An easily traded investment, such as treasury bills, which is
recorded as a current asset, since it is easily convertible into cash.

Net working capital

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

net working capital

current assets minus 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.

Quick asset

Any asset that can be converted into cash on short notice. This is a subset
of a current asset, for it does not include inventory. Its most common components
are the cash, marketable securities, and accounts receivable accounts.

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.

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.

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.

shortage costs

Costs incurred from shortages 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

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.

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.

Working Capital

current assets minus current liabilities

Working Capital

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

Working capital management

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

Acquisition of assets

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

Asset

Any possession that has value in an exchange.

Asset

A resource, recorded through a transaction, that is expected to yield a benefit to a
company.

Asset

Something that is owned; a financial claim or a piece of property that is a store of value.

Asset

Probable future economic benefit that is obtained or controlled by an entity as a result of
a past transaction or event.

asset

Anything owned by, or owed to, an individual or business which has commercial or exchange value (e.g., cash, property, etc.).

Asset

All things of value owned by an individual or organization.

Asset activity ratios

Ratios that measure how effectively the firm is managing its assets.

Asset allocation decision

The decision regarding how an institution's funds should be distributed among the
major classes of assets in which it may invest.

Asset-Backed Securities

Bond or note secured by assets of company.

Asset-backed security

A security that is collateralized by loans, leases, receivables, or installment contracts
on personal property, not real estate.

Asset-based financing

Methods of financing in which lenders and equity investors look principally to the
cash flow from a particular asset or set of assets for a return on, and the return of, their financing.

Asset-Based Financing

Loans granted usually by a financial institution where the asset being financed constitutes the sole security given to the lender.

Asset classes

Categories of assets, such as stocks, bonds, real estate and foreign securities.

Asset Coverage

Extent to which a company's net assets cover a particular debt obligation, class of preferred stock, or equity position.

Asset-coverage test

A bond indenture restriction that permits additional borrowing on if the ratio of assets to
debt does not fall below a specified minimum.

Asset/equity ratio

The ratio of total assets to stockholder equity.

Asset for asset swap

Creditors exchange the debt of one defaulting borrower for the debt of another
defaulting borrower.

Asset/liability management

Also called surplus management, the task of managing funds of a financial
institution to accomplish the two goals of a financial institution:
1) to earn an adequate return on funds invested, and
2) to maintain a comfortable surplus of assets beyond liabilities.

asset mix

The weighting of assets in an investment portfolio among different asset classes (e.g. shares, bonds, property, cash, overseas investments.

Asset pricing model

A model for determining the required rate of return on an asset.

Asset pricing model

A model, such as the Capital asset Pricing Model (CAPM), that determines the required
rate of return on a particular asset.

Asset-specific Risk

The amount of total risk that can be eliminated by diversification by
creating a portfolio. Also known as company-specific risk or
unsystematic risk.

Asset substitution

A firm's investing in assets that are riskier than those that the debtholders expected.

Asset substitution problem

Arises when the stockholders substitute riskier assets for the firm's existing
assets and expropriate value from the debtholders.

Asset swap

An interest rate swap used to alter the cash flow characteristics of an institution's assets so as to
provide a better match with its iabilities.

Asset turnover

The ratio of net sales to total assets.

asset turnover

a ratio measuring asset productivity and showing the number of sales dollars generated by each dollar of assets

asset turnover ratio

A broad-gauge ratio computed by dividing annual
sales revenue by total assets. It is a rough measure of the sales-generating
power of assets. The idea is that assets are used to make sales, and the
sales should lead to profit. The ultimate test is not sales revenue on
assets, but the profit earned on assets as measured by the return on
assets (ROA) ratio.

Assets

A firm's productive resources.

ASSETS

Anything of value that a company owns.

Assets

Things that the business owns.

Assets

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

Assets requirements

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

capital asset

an asset used to generate revenues or cost savings
by providing production, distribution, or service capabilities
for more than one year

Capital asset

A fixed asset, something that is expected to have long-term usage within
a company, and which exceeds a minimum dollar amount (known as the capitalization
limit, or cap limit).

Capital asset pricing model (CAPM)

An economic theory that describes the relationship between risk and
expected return, and serves as a model for the pricing of risky securities. The CAPM asserts that the only risk
that is priced by rational investors is systematic risk, because that risk cannot be eliminated by diversification.
The CAPM says that the expected return of a security or a portfolio is equal to the rate on a risk-free security
plus a risk premium.

Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM)

A model for estimating equilibrium rates of return and values of
assets in financial markets; uses beta as a measure of asset risk
relative to market risk

capital asset pricing model (CAPM)

Theory of the relationship between risk and return which states that the expected risk
premium on any security equals its beta times the market risk premium.

Capitalized Cost An expenditure or accrual that is reported as an asset to be amortized against

future-period revenue.

concurrent engineering

see simultaneous engineering

Contra-asset account

An offset to an asset account that reduces the balance of the asset account.

Current account

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

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 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 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-coupon issues

Related: Benchmark issues

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 Income Tax Expense

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

Current issue

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

Current liabilities

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

Current liabilities

Bills a company must pay within the next twelve months.

Current liabilities

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

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.

Current Liabilities

Debts or other obligations coming due within a year.

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.

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 Tax Payment Act of 1943

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

Current yield

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

current yield

Annual coupon payments divided by bond price.

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.

Deferred Tax Asset

Future tax benefit that results from (1) the origination of a temporary difference
that causes pretax book income to be less than taxable income or (2) a loss, credit, or other
carryforward. Future tax benefits are realized on the reversal of deductible temporary differences
or the offsetting of a loss carryforward against taxable income or a tax-credit carryforward against
the current tax provision.

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