Algkapital

Algkapital is a term used in Danish-language finance and economics to denote the total capital used to fund a business or an economy. The precise definition is not standardized and varies by source, jurisdiction, and context, which means that "algkapital" can refer either to the capital employed by a specific firm or to the aggregate capital stock of an economy.

In corporate finance, algkapital commonly refers to capital employed. In this sense it represents the funds supplied by owners and lenders that are actively used in the business to generate earnings. A typical formulation is that algkapital equals eget kapital plus interest-bearing debts, or equivalently the total assets minus current liabilities. Some authors include non-interest-bearing liabilities in the calculation; definitions differ across accounting frameworks and financial analyses. The concept is closely related to measures such as return on capital, invested capital, and the weighted average cost of capital (WACC).

In macroeconomics, algkapital may denote the capital stock, i.e., the accumulated value of physical capital assets like buildings, machinery, and infrastructure that are used in production.

Use of the term often appears in financial reporting, investment analyses, and economic statistics, but it is less standardized than terms like equity or debt. When encountering algkapital, it is important to check the specific definition used by the author or institution and to specify which components are included.

Related concepts include eget kapital (equity), gæld (debt), and kapitalomkostninger (cost of capital).