Lesson plan

Thin capitalisation

A company is said to be thinly capitalised when the level of its debt is much greater than its equity capital, i.e. its gearing, or leverage, is very high. An entity's debt-to-equity funding is sometimes expressed as a ratio. For example, a gearing ratio of 1.5:1 means that for every $1 of equity the entity has $1.5 of debt. A high gearing ratio can create problems for: * creditors, which bear the solvency risk of the company, and * revenue authorities, which are concerned about excessive interest claims.

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Article summary

A company is said to be thinly capitalised when the level of its debt is much greater than its equity capital, i.e. its gearing, or leverage, is very high. An entity's debt-to-equity funding is sometimes expressed as a ratio. For example, a gearing ratio of 1.5:1 means that for every $1 of equity the entity has $1.5 of debt. A high gearing ratio can create problems for: * creditors, which bear the solvency risk of the company, and * revenue authorities, which are concerned about excessive interest claims.

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Discussion questions

  1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
  2. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
  3. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

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Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.