Debt-to-equity ratio On a balance sheet, the formal definition is that debt (liabilities) plus equity equals assets, or any equivalent reformulation. Both the formulas below are therefore identical: Debt to equity can also be reformulated in terms of assets or debt: General Electric Co. () Debt-to-equity ratio The debt-to-equity ratio (D/E) is a financial ratio indicating the relative proportion of shareholders' equity and debt used to finance a company's assets. Closely related to leveraging, the ratio is also known as risk, gearing or leverage. The two components are often taken from the firm's balance sheet or statement of financial position (so-called book
Opportunity finance Opportunity finance Opportunity finance refers to socially responsible investing by an institution in an organization or group of individuals. The Opportunity Finance Network, a Philadelphia-based national umbrella group of 213 community development financial institution (CDFIs) founded in 1995, defines the term as "a category of financing that helps people and communities just outside the margins of conventional, mainstream finance join the economic mainstream—and helps the economic mainstream enter emerging opportunity markets." It is closely related to microfinance, but tends to occur on a larger scale and be more explicitly concerned with social benefit. The concept of opportunity finance has gained