Working capital is current assets minus current liabilities — the short-term resources a business has to fund day-to-day operations. Positive working capital means a company can cover near-term obligations from assets that will convert to cash within a year.
Why It Matters
Working capital is where profitable companies actually go bankrupt: a business can be earning money on paper while running out of cash because receivables aren't collected fast enough or inventory is piling up. It's also a heavily negotiated deal term — working capital adjustments (comparing actual working capital at close to a target) are one of the most common sources of post-acquisition purchase-price disputes.
How It Works in Practice
- 1Current assets: cash, accounts receivable, inventory, and other assets expected to convert to cash within a year
- 2Current liabilities: accounts payable, short-term debt, and other obligations due within a year
- 3Working capital = current assets − current liabilities
- 4The cash conversion cycle (days inventory + days receivable − days payable) measures how efficiently that working capital turns over
Common Pitfalls
Growing companies often need MORE working capital as they scale (funding more receivables and inventory), which is easy to underestimate in growth projections
Working capital targets in M&A deals are frequently gamed near close (accelerating collections, delaying payables) to inflate the number the seller is paid against
A working capital ratio that looks healthy in aggregate can hide a liquidity problem if a large share of current assets is slow-moving inventory rather than cash or receivables