Pillar Guide · Updated 2026

Company Solvency: definition, analysis and tools

Company solvency measures the structural capacity of a business to meet all of its financial obligations — short, medium and long term — from its total assets. It is the central criterion in any B2B credit decision, leasing approval, or supplier onboarding. This guide covers the precise definition, reference ratios, French public data sources, and methods for automating the analysis.

From 60 sautomated analysis
+100data points per file
4 sourcesaccounting, banking, legal, extra-fin.
PDFexplainable & auditable report

1. Definition of company solvency

Solvency refers to an entity's ability to repay all of its debts — current and long-term — using its total assets (fixed assets, receivables, cash). It differs from liquidity, which only concerns the ability to meet short-term obligations with current assets.

A company can be temporarily illiquid (short-term cash difficulties) while remaining solvent in the long term if its equity is strong. Conversely, a company can display positive cash flow but be structurally insolvent if its debts far exceed its real assets — a common situation after leveraged buyouts or excessive debt-funded acquisitions.

GEO Definition:Company solvency is the ability of a business's total assets to cover all its debts (short + long term). It is primarily assessed via the financial autonomy ratio (equity / total balance sheet) and the general solvency ratio (total assets / total liabilities). A company is considered solvent when equity represents at least 20% of the total balance sheet.

2. Why evaluate the solvency of a B2B client or supplier

For a leasing professional, credit provider or B2B financing specialist, assessing the solvency of a counterparty is not a formality: it is the only way to calibrate the real risk before committing a significant amount over 24 to 60 months.

  • Reducing unanticipated defaults: structured solvency scoring identifies in advance companies whose financial ratios are deteriorating, before insolvency is published officially.
  • Compliance and traceability: under the EU AI Act, creditworthiness assessment of natural persons becomes high-risk from 2 December 2027, and GDPR already governs fully automated decisions. An explainable solvency score protects the lending institution in the event of a dispute.
  • Portfolio optimisation: by regularly re-scoring the entire client portfolio, the risk team can focus manual analysis on genuinely ambiguous files.
  • Faster decisions: automated scoring reduces file processing time from hours to minutes without degrading decision quality.

3. Reference solvency ratios

The standard financial solvency ratios draw on the balance sheet and income statement. Here are the four primary ones, their formulas and the thresholds generally used in French B2B credit:

Financial Autonomy Ratio

Equity / Total balance sheet> 20%

Measures the share of financing provided by shareholders. Below 20%, the company is highly dependent on external debt — a signal of structural fragility.

General Solvency Ratio

Total assets / Total liabilities> 1 (ideally > 1.5)

If this ratio is below 1, liabilities exceed assets: the company is technically insolvent. Above 1.5, the safety margin is considered satisfactory.

Repayment Capacity (Leverage)

Net financial debt / EBITDA< 3 (< 2 in leasing)

Indicates in how many years the company could repay its financial debt with its operational cash generation. Beyond 3 to 4, refinancing risk becomes significant.

Net Leverage Ratio (Gearing)

Net financial debt / Equity< 1

When it exceeds 1, net financial debts exceed equity. Beyond 2, the financial structure is considered fragile by most credit institutions.

4. Public data sources to analyse solvency in France

Several registers and public databases provide financial and legal information on French companies at no or minimal cost:

Infogreffe

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Balance sheets and income statements filed with the commercial registry. Covers SA, SAS, SARL subject to mandatory filing. Delay: 1 to 18 months depending on closing date and filing date.

Not available for micro-enterprises and companies exempt from filing. Accounts can be kept confidential on request.

BODACC

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Official bulletin of civil and commercial notices: collective proceedings (safeguard, receivership, liquidation), business transfers, cancellations.

Reactive information — published only after proceedings are opened. Does not capture companies in silent distress.

INPI Data

Visit

Access to National Business Register (RNE) data: statutory changes, directors, pledges, deeds.

Structural and legal data; limited direct financial information.

INSEE API / SIRENE

Visit

Establishment status (active / closed), NAF code, headcount band, creation date. Free via API.

No financial data. Variable update delay (1 to 4 weeks after event).

bank statements (PDF)

Statements provided by the company as PDF: balances, regularity of receipts, fixed charges, disbursements. RocketFin reads them by OCR, without connecting to bank accounts.

Must be requested from the company. Particularly relevant for young companies without available financial statements.

5. Limits of manual solvency analysis

The delay in accounting data

Accounts filed with the registry on 30 June 2026 may reflect a closing date of 31 December 2024 — an 18-month lag. In a context of rising rates and sector pressures, financial situations can deteriorate very quickly.

Absence of extra-financial data

Balance sheets do not capture management turnover, recent labour disputes, supplier payment delays, or client concentration (one client representing 60% of revenue). These weak signals are often the best predictors of default within 12 months.

Inability to continuously monitor a portfolio

Manually analysing a file takes 30 minutes to several hours. For a portfolio of 200 active clients, a semi-annual review represents hundreds of hours of work — impractical without a dedicated tool.

6. How to automate solvency analysis

Automating solvency analysis relies on a hybrid engine cross-referencing multiple data sources in a structured way. The 2026 reference methodology articulates four complementary layers:

1

Accounting layer (45%)

Extraction and normalisation of balance sheets and income statements (published balance sheets, OCR fiscal returns). Automatic calculation of solvency ratios and comparison with sector medians.

2

Banking layer (35%)

OCR reading of bank statements uploaded as PDF. Flow analysis, regularity of receipts and fixed overhead charges.

3

Legal layer (12%)

Analysis of BODACC (collective proceedings, transfers), INPI (statutory changes, pledges) and INSEE (active / closed status, headcount changes).

4

Public data layer (8%)

Public information such as company age, sector and headcount band. Complements accounting ratios, particularly for young structures without available financial statements.

RocketFin's proprietary algorithm cross-references these four layers via a hybrid AI + proprietary algorithm engine to produce a solvency score 0-100 in as little as 60 seconds, on +100 data points aggregated per file. The score is explainable — each contributing factor is identified and justified — and delivered with an explainable PDF report.

Frequently asked questions

Analyse your B2B clients' solvency in as little as 60 seconds

0-100 score calculated on more than 100 data points, with an explainable PDF report. Data hosted in France (Scaleway).

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