DEGREE OF FINANCIAL LEVERAGE - DFL

Ratio that summarize the effect an amount of financial leverage has on a company's earnings per share. Financial leverage involves using fixed costs to finance the firm, and will include higher expenses before interest and taxes (EBIT). Most likely, the firm under evaluation will be trying to optimize EPS, and this ratio can be used to help determine the most appropriate level of financial leverage to use to achieve that goal. The higher the degree of financial leverage, the more volatile EPS will be, all other things remaining the same.