What is the difference between profitability and liquidity?

Asked by: Prof. Orion Casper  |  Last update: September 12, 2025
Score: 4.3/5 (35 votes)

While profitability shows that a company can make money from its operations, liquidity ensures it can pay bills and access enough cash when needed. Strong liquidity and profitability together contribute to long-term viability. Companies need profits to sustain operations and grow.

Can a company be liquid but not profitable?

A company may maintain high liquidity ratios by holding excess cash or highly liquid assets, which could be more effectively deployed elsewhere to generate returns for shareholders. In addition, a company could have a great liquidity ratio but be unprofitable and lose money each year.

What leads to higher liquidity and higher profitability?

Working capital affects both the liquidity as well as the profitability of a business. As the amount of working capital increases the liquidity of the business increases. However, since current assets offer low returns with the increase in working capital the profitability of the business falls.

How to measure liquidity and profitability?

Liquidity ratio analysis can measure the company's short-term liquidity ability by looking at its current assets relative to its existing debt. In contrast, the profitability ratio can measure the company's ability to generate profits at the level of sales, purchases, and share capital.

What is liquidity vs profitability trade off?

In other words, a company need not forego liquidity to earn profit. The key aspect is to draw a balance in terms of the extent to which a company can forego liquidity to earn the desired profit, which is the ultimate trade-off between liquidity and profitability.

Profitability vs Liquidity - Which one is better?

19 related questions found

Is profitability the same as liquidity?

Liquidity vs Profitability: Meeting Obligations and Generating Returns. While liquidity focuses on a company's ability to meet near-term obligations, profitability examines how efficiently a company generates returns over time.

What is the conflict between liquidity and profitability?

As liquidity and profitability are inversely related to each other, hence increasing profitability would tend to reduce firms' liquidity and too much attention on liquidity would tend to affect the profitability.

How do you define profitability?

Profitability is a measure of how efficiently a business converts its expenses into profits for its owners.

What is a good liquidity ratio?

Generally, a good Liquidity Ratio should be above 1.0. This indicates the company has enough current assets to cover its short-term liabilities.

Why is liquidity and profitability important?

Liquidity and profitability are the two important and vital aspects of corporate business life. No firm can survive without liquidity. Without making any profit a firm may be considered as sick but one having no liquidity may soon meet its downfall and ultimately die.

What is liquidity in simple terms?

Liquidity is a company's ability to convert assets to cash or acquire cash—through a loan or money in the bank—to pay its short-term obligations or liabilities.

What is a good cash ratio?

There is no ideal figure, but a cash ratio is considered good if it is between 0.5 and 1. For example, a company with $200,000 in cash and cash equivalents, and $150,000 in liabilities, will have a 1.33 cash ratio.

Which is more important liquidity solvency or profitability?

As a financial analyst or investor, it's important to pay more attention to a company's solvency ratio. While a company may improve its liquidity ratio when it increases profitability, a low solvency ratio may have long-term effects on it and its ability to pay back investors.

What is the most liquid asset of a business?

Cash on hand is the most liquid type of asset, followed by funds you can withdraw from your bank accounts. No conversion is necessary — if your business needs a cash infusion, you can access your funds right away.

Can a small business continue without being profitable?

Without sufficient capital or the financial resources used to sustain and run a company, business failure is imminent. No business can survive for a significant amount of time without making a profit, though measuring a company's profitability, both current and future, is critical in evaluating the company.

What is a good current ratio?

The current ratio measures a company's capacity to pay its short-term liabilities due in one year. The current ratio weighs a company's current assets against its current liabilities. A good current ratio is typically considered to be anywhere between 1.5 and 3.

What is an unhealthy liquidity ratio?

High liquidity ratios indicate a strong capability to cover short-term liabilities. Ratios below 1.00 might suggest difficulty in meeting immediate debts. Regularly monitor these ratios to identify any potential liquidity issues.

What is a good profitability ratio?

Net income before taxes is the norm when it comes to measuring a company's profitability. Average net earnings keep increasing. This is often because companies adopt cost-saving strategies and new technology. As a rule of thumb, a good operating profitability ratio is anything greater than 1.5 percent.

What is a healthy debt-to-equity ratio?

Generally, a good debt ratio for a business is around 1 to 1.5. However, the debt-to-equity ratio can vary significantly based on the business's growth stage and industry sector. For example, newer and expanding companies often utilise debt to drive growth.

What is the simple formula of profitability?

When the selling price and the cost price of a product is given, the profit can be calculated using the formula, Profit = Selling Price - Cost Price. After this, the profit percentage formula that is used is, Profit percentage = (Profit/Cost Price) × 100.

What is the key to profitability?

There are four key areas that can help drive profitability. These are reducing costs, increasing turnover, increasing productivity, and increasing efficiency. You can also expand into new market sectors, or develop new products or services.

What are three financial sheets that are used to record and report a business?

The three financial statements are (1) the income statement, (2) the balance sheet, and (3) the cash flow statement. Each of the financial statements provides important financial information for both internal and external stakeholders of a company.

What is the dilemma of liquidity and profitability?

Liquid assets are less profitable as compared to long term assets. The dilemma to a finance manager is whether to invest in more profitable long term assets and risk low liquidity or invest in short term assets which are less profitable and therefore reduce return on investment made.

What is the trade-off between liquidity and profitability?

Profitability and liquidity directly influence the value of company, whose maximization is a trade-off between maximum earnings and minimum cost of capital related to risk. The trade-off between profitability and liquidity maximization determines the decisions in a company and is the result of their relationship.

Can a profitable company have a liquidity problem?

A profitable company can still face a liquidity problem. Profitability and liquidity are two separate aspects of a company's financial health. Profitability measures a company's ability to generate profits from its operations.