What is Financial risk

Financial risk is affected by mixture of long-term financing or capital structure, of firm. Firms with high levels of long-term debt in proportion to their equity are more risky than firms maintaining lower ratios of long-term debt to equity. It is contractual fixed-payment obligations associated with debt financing which make a firm financially risky. The greater the amount of interest and principal (or sinking fund) payments a firm should make in a given period, the higher the operating profits required to cover these charges. If a firm fails to produce sufficient revenues to cover operating charges, it can be forced into bankruptcy.