The two fundamental sources of equity in a company are stockholders and creditors their combined interests are called total equities. To discover the equity ratio divide stockholders' equity by total equities or total assets since total equities equals total assets. In formula format

Equity ratio=Stockholders 'equity/Total equities

The elevated the proportion of equities or assets supplied by the owners the more solvent the company. But a high portion of debt may perhaps indicate higher profitability because quite often the interest rate on debt is lower than the rate of earnings realized from using the proceeds of the debt.

An illustration illustrates this concept assume that a company with USD 100000 in assets could have raised the funds to acquire those assets in these two ways

When a company undergo operating losses its assets decrease. In Case (A) the assets would have to get smaller by 80 per cent before the liabilities would equal the assets. In Case (2) the assets would have to minimize only 20 percent before the liabilities would equal the assets. When the liabilities go beyond the assets the company is said to be insolvent. So creditors are safer in Case (A) and will more readily lend money to the company. But if funds borrowed at 10 per cent are used to produce earnings at a 20 per cent rate Case (B) is preferable in terms of profitability. Thus owners are better off in Case (B) if the borrowed funds can earn more than they cost.