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Why is a company’s capital structure, as measured by debt and equity ratios, important to financial statement analysts?

Short Answer

Expert verified

The debt ratio and equity ratio help the analyst to measure the solvency of the company. It indicates the potential of the company to repay its obligations and financial security to creditors.

Step by step solution

01

Explanation of the capital structure

Capital structure refers to the total funds used by the business including debt and equity.

02

Explanation of debt ratio and equity ratio

The debt ratio indicates the value of liabilities of the business as a percentage of the total assets of the company. The equity ratio indicates the value of equity as a percentage of the total assets of the company.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

Identify which standard of comparison, (a) intracompany, (b) competitor, (c) industry, or (d) guidelines, is best described by each of the following.

1. Is often viewed as the best standard of comparison.

2. Rules of thumb developed from past experiences.

3. Provides analysis based on a company’s prior performance.

4. Compares a company against industry statistics.

What does a relatively high accounts receivable turnover indicate about a company’s short-term liquidity?

Compute trend percents for the following accounts, using 2013 as the base year (round the percents to whole numbers). State whether the situation as revealed by the trends appears to be favorable or unfavorable for each account.

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

Sales

\(282,880

\)270,800

\(252,600

\)234,560

$150,000

Cost of goods sold

128,200

122,080

115,280

106,440

67,000

Accounts receivable

18,100

17,300

16,400

15,200

9,000

Selected year-end financial statements of Cabot Corporation follow. (All sales were on credit; selected balance sheet amounts at December 31, 2016, were inventory, \(48,900; total assets, \)189,400; common stock, \(90,000; and retained earnings, \)22,748.)

CABOT CORPORATION

Income Statement

For Year Ended December 31, 2017

Sales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . \(448,600

Cost of goods sold . . . . . . 297,250

Gross profit . . . . . . . . . . . . 151,350

Operating expenses . . . . . 98,600

Interest expense . . . . . . . . 4,100

Income before taxes . . . . . 48,650

Income taxes . . . . . . . . . . . 19,598

Net income . . . . . . . . . . . . \) 29,052

CABOT CORPORATION

Balance Sheet

December 31, 2017

Assets Liabilities and Equity

Cash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . \( 10,000 Accounts payable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . \) 17,500

Short-term investments . . . . . . . . 8,400 Accrued wages payable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,200

Accounts receivable, net . . . . . . . 29,200 Income taxes payable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,300

Notes receivable (trade)* . . . . . . . 4,500 Long-term note payable, secured

Merchandise inventory . . . . . . . . . 32,150 by mortgage on plant assets . . . . . . . . 63,400

Prepaid expenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,650 Common stock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90,000

Plant assets, net . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153,300 Retained earnings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62,800

Total assets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . \(240,200 Total liabilities and equity . . . . . . . . . . . . . \)240,200

* These are short-term notes receivable arising from customer (trade) sales.

Required

Compute the following:

(1) current ratio,

Round to one decimal place; for part 6, round to two decimals.

What does a relatively high accounts receivable turnover indicate about a company’s short-term liquidity?

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