Quick Assets
The most liquid current assets—cash, marketable securities, and net receivables—used to measure a company's ability to meet short-term obligations.
What is Quick Assets?
Quick assets are current assets that can be converted to cash quickly—generally within 90 days—without significant loss of value. They consist of cash and cash equivalents, short-term marketable securities, and net accounts receivable. Inventory and prepaid expenses are excluded because they cannot be immediately converted to cash at full value. Quick assets are the numerator in the quick ratio (also called the acid-test ratio): Quick Ratio = Quick Assets ÷ Current Liabilities. A quick ratio of 1.0 or above indicates that a company could meet all its short-term obligations using only its most liquid assets without needing to sell inventory. This makes quick assets an important measure of financial resilience, particularly for creditors and lenders assessing a company's ability to survive a short-term cash crisis.
Example
A manufacturing company has current assets of $500,000 (cash $100,000, marketable securities $80,000, accounts receivable $170,000, inventory $120,000, prepaid expenses $30,000) and current liabilities of $200,000. Quick assets = $100,000 + $80,000 + $170,000 = $350,000. Quick ratio = $350,000 ÷ $200,000 = 1.75x—strong short-term liquidity.