Circulantes

Circulantes is a term used in accounting to refer to the current portion of a company’s assets and liabilities—the components that are expected to be converted into cash, sold, or settled within one year or within the normal operating cycle. In many Spanish-speaking and Portuguese-speaking contexts, circulantes acts as shorthand for activo circulante and pasivo circulante, which are the two primary categories in the balance sheet.

Activos circulantes (current assets) include cash and cash equivalents, marketable or short-term investments, accounts receivable, inventories, and other current assets such as prepaid expenses. Pasivos circulantes (current liabilities) comprise accounts payable, short-term debt and the current portion of long-term debt, accrued liabilities, taxes payable, and other current obligations.

The difference between circulantes in assets and liabilities forms the working capital of a company: working capital neto = activo circulante − pasivo circulante. Positive working capital indicates liquidity to meet short-term obligations, whereas negative working capital may signal potential liquidity risk.

Liquidity and efficiency are commonly assessed using circulante-related measures, such as the current ratio (activo circulante divided by pasivo circulante) and the quick ratio (which excludes inventories from activo circulante). These metrics help stakeholders evaluate a company’s ability to fund day-to-day operations and survive short-term financial stress.

Notes: terminology varies by jurisdiction. Some countries use activo corriente/pasivo corriente with similar meaning; circulante is often used interchangeably as a shorthand for these categories in financial statements.