Key solvency ratios to assess a company's financial health
Solvency ratios are quantitative indicators derived from a company's balance sheet and accounts. They measure leverage, liquidity, financial autonomy, and repayment capacity — and form the analytical backbone of any B2B credit, leasing, or financing decision.
In brief:solvency ratios compare financial statement items to quantify a company's structural capacity to meet its obligations. The five most relevant for B2B credit decisions are the debt-to-equity ratio, general liquidity ratio, financial autonomy ratio, net debt/EBITDA, and DSO. No single ratio is sufficient alone — they are read in combination to form a complete view of company solvency.
The 5 essential solvency ratios
Debt-to-equity ratio
Total financial debt / EquityMeasures leverage. Above 2, the company is predominantly financed by debt — any deterioration in earnings may trigger repayment difficulties.
General liquidity ratio (current ratio)
Current assets / Current liabilitiesMeasures short-term payment capacity. A ratio below 1 means current liabilities exceed current assets — a sign of potential short-term default risk.
Financial autonomy ratio
Equity / Total assetsIndicates what proportion of assets is financed by the company's own resources. A low ratio signals vulnerability to creditor pressure.
Net debt / EBITDA
(Financial debt − Cash) / EBITDAIndicates how many years of operating profit would be needed to repay net debt. A standard covenant threshold in bank lending is 3–4x.
DSO (Days Sales Outstanding)
(Trade receivables / Revenue) × 365Measures the average time to collect payment. A rising DSO suggests deteriorating collections or customer credit quality — a leading indicator of cash flow stress.
Reading ratios together: a practical example
Consider a company with a good liquidity ratio (1.4) but a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.5 and net debt/EBITDA of 5.2x. The liquidity picture looks stable short-term, but the structural over-leverage creates significant medium-term refinancing risk — especially if rates rise or earnings decline. This illustrates why ratios must be read in combination.
Modern scoring engines automate this multi-ratio analysis. Rather than calculating each ratio manually and reconciling them, a solvency score aggregates all indicators into a single composite output — without losing the granularity of individual drivers.
Frequently asked questions
Which solvency ratio is the most important?
There is no single most important ratio — they are complementary. The debt-to-equity ratio reveals leverage, the liquidity ratio reveals short-term payment risk, the financial autonomy ratio reveals structural resilience. A company can have a good liquidity ratio but dangerous leverage. Combining at least three ratios produces a much more reliable assessment than any single indicator.
Can I calculate solvency ratios from the income statement alone?
No. The most important solvency ratios (debt-to-equity, financial autonomy, net debt) require balance sheet data. The income statement provides EBITDA (for the net debt/EBITDA ratio) and revenue (for DSO), but the core solvency picture comes from the balance sheet — assets, liabilities, and equity.
What should I do if the accounts are not yet available?
For companies that have not yet filed their most recent accounts (common for young companies), use the previous year as a base and supplement with Open Banking data (real-time bank flows) and extra-financial indicators (company age, sector, payment behaviour). Some scoring engines — including RocketFin — are specifically designed to score companies with limited accounting history.
How often should I recalculate solvency ratios?
For a static snapshot, annual recalculation (when new accounts are filed) is the minimum. For ongoing credit relationships or supplier monitoring, real-time scoring platforms update indicators continuously as new data becomes available — without requiring manual recalculation.
Automate solvency ratio calculation
RocketFin calculates all solvency ratios automatically from fresh data and aggregates them into a 0-100 score in under 30 seconds. Explainable output, EU AI Act compliant.