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
Corporate finance to Corporate Finance by Joel Dean in 1951). This requires estimating the size and timing of all of the "incremental" cash flows resulting from the project. Such future cash flows are then discounted to determine their "present value" (see Time value of money). These present values are then summed, and this sum net of the initial investment outlay is the NPV. See Financial modeling. The NPV is greatly affected by the discount rate. Thus, identifying the proper discount rate – often termed, the project "hurdle rate" – is critical to choosing good projects and investments for the firm. The hurdle