# What Is a Solvency Ratio, and How Is It Calculated?

> **Definition**
>
> Solvency ratios are commonly used to determine a firm's ability to remain solvent. 

## What Is a Solvency Ratio?

A solvency ratio is a measurement of a firm's financial health. It indicates whether a company’s cash flow is sufficient to meet its [long-term liabilities](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/longtermliabilities.asp). An unfavorable ratio can indicate some likelihood that a company will default on its debt obligations.  

### Key Takeaways

*   A solvency ratio examines a firm's ability to meet its long-term debts and obligations.
*   The main solvency ratios include the debt-to-assets ratio, the interest coverage ratio, the equity ratio, and the debt-to-equity (D/E) ratio.
*   Solvency ratios are often used by prospective lenders when evaluating a company's creditworthiness, as well as by potential bond investors.
*   Solvency ratios and liquidity ratios both measure a company's financial health, but solvency ratios have a longer-term outlook than liquidity ratios.
*   Like other financial ratios, solvency ratios often hold the most value when compared over time or against other companies.

![Solvency Ratio](https://www.investopedia.com/thmb/oHekMxOiSpEme1FdbjFr842rZf8=/1500x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/solvencyratio-d2458ed42e764bf8b69b6bff480130b1.jpg)

*It's also used by investors to evaluate the risk associated with investing in a company. — Investopedia / Laura Porter*

## How Solvency Ratios Work

A solvency ratio is one of many metrics used to determine whether a company can stay solvent in the long term. A solvency ratio is a comprehensive measure of solvency, as it measures a firm's actual cash flow, rather than net income, by adding back [depreciation](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/depreciation.asp) and other non-cash expenses to assess a company’s capacity to stay afloat.

It measures this cash flow capacity versus all liabilities rather than only [short-term debt](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/shorttermdebt.asp). This way, a solvency ratio assesses a company's long-term health by evaluating its repayment ability for its long-term debt and the interest on that debt.

Solvency ratios vary from industry to industry. A company’s solvency ratio should, therefore, be compared with its competitors in the same industry rather than viewed in isolation.

A solvency ratio terminology is also used when evaluating insurance companies, comparing the size of their capital relative to the premiums written, and measuring the risk an insurer faces on claims it cannot cover.

> **Important**
>
> The main solvency ratios are the debt-to-assets ratio, the interest coverage ratio, the equity ratio, and the debt-to-equity (D/E) ratio. These measures may be compared with liquidity ratios, which consider a firm's ability to meet short-term obligations rather than medium- to long-term ones.

## Types of Solvency Ratios

### Interest coverage ratio

The [interest coverage ratio](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/interestcoverageratio.asp) is calculated as follows:

$\text{Interest Coverage Ratio}=\frac{\text{EBIT}}{\text{Interest Expenses}}$

where:

*   EBIT = Earnings before interest and taxes

The interest coverage ratio measures how many times a company can cover its current interest payments with its available earnings. In other words, it measures the margin of safety a company has for paying interest on its debt during a given period.

The higher the ratio, the better. If the ratio falls to 1.5 or below, it may indicate that a company will have difficulty meeting the interest on its debts.

### Debt-to-assets ratio

The [debt-to-assets ratio](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/totaldebttototalassets.asp) is calculated as follows:

$\text{Debt-to-Assets Ratio}=\frac{\text{Debt}}{\text{Assets}}$

The debt-to-assets ratio measures a company's total debt to its total assets. It measures a company's leverage and indicates how much of the company is funded by debt versus assets, and therefore, its ability to pay off its debt with its available assets. A higher ratio, especially above 1.0, indicates that a company is significantly funded by debt and may have difficulty meeting its obligations.

### Equity ratio

The [shareholder equity ratio](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/shareholderequityratio.asp) is calculated as follows:

$\begin{aligned}&\text{SER}=\frac{\text{TSE}}{\text{Total assets}}\\\textbf{where:}\\&\text{SER}\!=\!\text{Shareholder equity ratio}\\&\text{TSE}\!=\!\text{Total shareholder equity}\end{aligned}$

The equity ratio, or equity-to-assets, shows how much of a company is funded by equity as opposed to debt. The higher the number, the healthier a company is. The lower the number, the more debt a company has on its books relative to equity.

### Debt-to-equity (D/E) ratio

The [debt-to-equity](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/debtequityratio.asp) (D/E) ratio is calculated as follows:

$\text{Debt to Equity Ratio}=\frac{\text{Debt Outstanding}}{\text{Equity}}$

The D/E ratio is similar to the debt-to-assets ratio in that it indicates how a company is funded, in this case, by debt. The higher the ratio, the more debt a company has on its books, meaning the likelihood of default is higher. The ratio looks at how much of the debt can be covered by equity if the company needs to liquidate.  

### Note

Don't just look at one ratio from one period; most financial ratios are able to tell more of a story when you look at the same ratio over time or look at the same ratio across similar companies.

## Solvency Ratios vs. Liquidity Ratios

Solvency ratios and liquidity ratios are similar but have some [important differences](https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/100313/financial-analysis-solvency-vs-liquidity-ratios.asp). Both of these categories of [financial ratios](https://www.investopedia.com/financial-ratios-4689817) will indicate the health of a company. The main difference is that solvency ratios offer a longer-term outlook on a company, whereas liquidity ratios focus on the shorter term.

Solvency ratios look at all assets of a company, including long-term debts such as bonds with maturities longer than a year. Liquidity ratios, on the other hand, look at just the most [liquid assets](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/liquidasset.asp), such as cash and [marketable securities](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/marketablesecurities.asp), and how those can be used to cover upcoming obligations in the near term.

If an investor wants to know whether a company will be able to pay its bills next year, they are often most interested in looking at the liquidity of the company. If a company is illiquid, it won't be able to pay its short-term bills as they come due. On the other hand, investors more interested in a long-term health assessment of a company would want to analyze solvency ratios.

## Limitations of Solvency Ratios

A company may have a low debt amount, but if its cash management practices are poor and accounts payable are surging, as a result its solvency position may not be as solid as would be indicated by measures that include only debt.

It's important to look at a variety of ratios to comprehend the true [financial health](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/financial-health.asp) of a company, as well as understand the reason that a ratio is what it is. Furthermore, a number itself won't give much of an indication. A company needs to be compared to its peers, particularly the strong companies in its industry, to determine if the ratio is an acceptable one or not.

For example, an airline company will have more debt than a technology firm just by the nature of its business. An airline company has to buy planes, pay for hangar space, and buy jet fuel; costs that are significantly more than a technology company will ever have to face.

## Examples of Solvency Ratios

Below is a screenshot of Amazon's financial position at the end of 2024. At the end of Dec. 31, 2024, Amazon had $624.9 billion of total company assets:

![Amazon Balance Sheet 2024](https://www.investopedia.com/thmb/wHonsEoWpOSlImwdKqnvJMa9LU8=/1500x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/Screenshot2025-04-08at11.09.25AM-5e4c00f0488448ff840aa9dfc7ffb880.png)

**

Although total debt is not explicitly shown on the financial statement, it can easily be calculated as the difference between total assets and total stockholders' equity (both of which are shown). Using subtraction, Amazon's debt was $338.9 billion at the end of 2024 and $326.0 billion at the end of 2023.

One can get a sense of Amazon's solvency by comparing last year's debt-to-equity ratio to this year's ratio. The ratios for each year are:

*   **2023 D/E Ratio: $326 billion / $201.9 billion = 1.61**
*   **2024 D/E Ratio: $338.9 billion / $286.0 billion = 1.18**

From these two calculations, one can assess that Amazon's long-term solvency increased, and the company's financial position became less risky over the course of the year. This is because the company now has proportionally less debt on its books compared to equity.

In another example, Amazon's debt-to-assets ratio decreased.

*   **2023 D/A Ratio: $326 billion / $527.9 billion = 0.62**
*   **2024 D/A Ratio: $338.9 billion / $625.0 billion = 0.54**

This indicates that debt now makes up a smaller portion of the company's total assets. While debt increased slightly, total assets grew at a faster rate, leading to an improved ratio. This aligns with the earlier observation that Amazon's financial leverage decreased, as seen in the decline of its debt-to-equity ratio.

This means that in 2023, Amazon had 62 cents of debt for every $1 of assets, or in other words, 62% of its assets were financed through debt. In 2024, while Amazon's total debt increased slightly, its total assets grew at a faster pace, reducing the debt-to-asset ratio to 0.54. That means only 54% of the company's assets are now financed by debt.

Slight changes like this may not be significant on their own, but consistent long-term trends or major year-over-year shifts can reveal how effectively a company is managing its capital structure and financial risk.

## What Are Solvency Ratios?

A solvency ratio measures how well a company’s cash flow can cover its long-term debt. Solvency ratios are a key metric for assessing the financial health of a company and can be used to determine the likelihood that a company will default on its debt. Solvency ratios differ from liquidity ratios, which analyze a company’s ability to meet its short-term obligations. 

## How Is a Solvency Ratio Calculated?

Solvency ratios measure a company’s cash flow, which includes non-cash expenses and depreciation, against all debt obligations. For instance, consider the debt-to-assets ratio, a popular metric that measures the degree to which a company’s assets are financed by debt, where debt-to-assets equals total debt divided by total assets. Another common solvency ratio, the debt-to-equity (D/E) ratio, shows how financially leveraged a company is, where debt-to-equity equals total debt divided by total equity.

## What's the Difference Between a Solvency Ratio and a Liquidity Ratio?

Solvency ratios—also referred to as leverage ratios—analyze the impact on long-term obligations and a company’s ability to continue operating over a longer horizon. By contrast, liquidity ratios look at two main objectives: a company’s ability to pay for short-term liabilities due under a year and the ability to quickly sell assets to raise cash.

## Is a High Solvency Ratio Good?

A high solvency ratio is usually good as it means the company is usually in better long-term health compared to companies with lower solvency ratios. On the other hand, a solvency ratio that looks too favorable may show that the company is not utilizing potentially low-cost debt as much as it should. While solvency is mostly used as a barometer of financial health, and higher is good, it is also used to evaluate some of the operational efficiencies where higher is not always better.

## Is Solvency the Same As Debt?

Solvency is related to debt because it's the measurement of how well a company will be able to pay off its debts. In a lot of cases, it makes sense for a company to borrow money. In other cases, it may be cheaper to take on debt rather than issue stock. In the long run, however, it is important that a company keeps track of its future obligations and whether it will be able to pay long-term debt as it comes due. Although solvency and debt are not the same thing, they are very closely related.

## The Bottom Line

Solvency ratios are financial measurements that usually look at a company's total assets, total debt, or total equity to better understand the company's financing structure.

This financial structure plays a critical part in knowing whether the company will be able to pay its long-term debts as they come due and have enough money in the long run. The most common solvency ratios are the debt-to-equity ratio, the debt-to-assets ratio, and the interest coverage ratio.

> **Article Sources**
>
> 1.  U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. "[Amazon.com, Inc. Form 10-K for the Period Ended Dec. 31, 2024](https://d18rn0p25nwr6d.cloudfront.net/CIK-0001018724/e42c2068-bad5-4ab6-ae57-36ff8b2aeffd.pdf)," Page 39.