Immediate liquidity check.

The quick ratio (or acid-test ratio) is a stricter version of the current ratio. It only counts assets that can be converted to cash quickly: cash itself, marketable securities, and accounts receivable. Inventory is excluded because it can take weeks or months to sell. The ratio compares these liquid assets against current liabilities.

200k cash + 150k receivables + 50k securities = 400k liquid assets. Against 300k current liabilities, quick ratio is 1.33 - healthy. Below 1.0 means the business couldn't pay its short-term bills if it had to liquidate immediately without selling inventory.

Retailers and restaurants often show poor quick ratios (0.3-0.7) because inventory is their biggest current asset. For them the current ratio tells a better story. Service businesses and SaaS companies typically run quick ratios of 1.5-3 because they have no inventory and healthy receivables. Compare against industry peers, not an absolute standard.

Run it with sensible defaults

Using cash of 200,000, accounts receivable of 150,000, marketable securities of 50,000, current liabilities of 300,000, the calculation works out to 1.33. Nudge the inputs toward your own situation and the output recalculates instantly. The defaults are meant as a starting point, not a recommendation.

The levers in this calculation

The inputs — Cash, Accounts Receivable, Marketable Securities, and Current Liabilities — do not pull with equal force. Not every input has equal weight. Flip one at a time toward extreme values to feel which ones move the needle most for your situation.

How the math works

Quick ratio = (cash + receivables + securities) ÷ current liabilities. Inventory excluded. The working is transparent — you can verify every step yourself in the formula section below. No black box, no opaque "proprietary model".

What to do with a low result

A disappointing result is information, not a judgement. Pick the single input that dragged the figure down most and focus the next quarter on that one factor. Breadth-first improvement rarely works; depth-first on the worst input usually does.

What this doesn't capture

The score is a composite of the inputs you provide. Life context — job security, family obligations, health, housing — doesn't appear in the math but shapes the real picture. Use the number as a prompt, not a verdict.