Highwire Finance Score
The Highwire Finance Score provides a clear, consistent view of your contractors’ financial health and the completeness of their financial assessments. It’s built from the data they provide in Highwire and adjusted based on key financial risk factors.
What Makes Up A Finance Score
The Finance Score is made up of three main parts:
- Completion Basis: Based on how many required assessment tabs the contractor has completed in Highwire, as shown when viewing their Risk Overview and Finance pages.
- Statement Quality: Based on the audit level of their submitted financial statements—audited, reviewed, compiled, or unknown.
- Deductions: Subtracted from the score if their financial data shows signs of potential risk.
The score is normalized to a 0–100 scale based only on what the contractors are required by their clients to complete.
Completion Basis
Contractors can earn points by completing the required assessment areas. These vary depending on what their clients request:
| Category | What’s Required | Points |
| Financials* | 3 years of balance sheets, income statements, and cash flow statements | 40 |
| Backlog | Quarterly updates to work-in-progress and work-not-started schedules | 10 |
| Banking | Line of credit, available credit, updated quarterly | 10 |
| Surety | Surety provider info, bond amounts, bond rate, confirmation letter | 10 |
| References* | 3 supplier/contractor references and 3 client references | 10 |
| Legal | Required questions with supplemental info if needed | 5 |
| Experience | 5 reference projects (with 5 bonus points for providing more) | 5 (+5) |
Partial credit may be awarded. For example, submitting only balance sheets and income statements (but not cash flow statements) would result in partial credit for Financials.
Financial Statement Quality
Contractors can earn up to 5 bonus points based on the level of review applied to their financial statements:
| Statement Type | Bonus Points |
| Audited | +5 |
| Reviewed | +3 |
| Compiled | +2 |
| Unknown | 0 |
Financial Risk Deductions
After the base score is calculated, we apply deductions for financial risk based on key ratios. Each metric has specific thresholds that, if not met, result in points being subtracted.
| Category | Metric | Deduction Thresholds | Calculation | Source |
| Liquidity | Current Ratio | Less than 1.5: -5 pts Less than 1.0: -20 pts |
Total Current Assets / Total Current Liabilities | Balance Sheet |
| Liquidity | Quick Ratio | Less than 1.0: -5 pts Less than 0.8: -10 pts |
(Cash + Marketable Securities + A/R) / Total Current Liabilities | Balance Sheet |
| Leverage | Debt-to-Equity Ratio | Greater than 2.0: -5 pts Greater than 3.0: -10 pts |
Total Liabilities / Shareholders’ Equity | Balance Sheet |
| Backlog | Backlog in Months | Greater than 12: -3 pts Greater than 15: -5 pts Less than 5: -3 pts Less than 3: -5 pts |
Value of Contracts / (Total Revenue ÷ 12) | Income Statement, WNS Tab |
| Efficiency | Working Capital Turnover | Less than 4: -3 pts Less than 2: -5 pts |
Total Revenue / (Current Assets - Current Liabilities) | Balance Sheet, Income Statement |
| Profitability | Gross Profit Margin | Less than 20%: -1 pt Less than 15%: -3 pts |
((Revenue - Cost of Sales) / Revenue) × 100 | Income Statement |
| Profitability | Net Profit Margin | Less than 5%: -1 pt Less than 0%: -3 pts |
(Net Income / Total Revenue) × 100 | Income Statement |
Notes:
- Each deduction is applied independently, and multiple deductions can apply.
- Deductions are only applied if contractors are required to submit financial statements and have done so.
How Contractors Can Improve Their Finance Score
Is one of your contractors looking to raise their score? Here are a few simple steps that can make a big difference:
- Complete all required tabs: A contractor’s Home page shows which tabs are required. It is recommended that they ensure all sections are filled out and up to date.
- Upgrade your financial statements: Audited statements earn the most points. Moving from compiled to reviewed or audited can improve a contractor’s Finance score.
- Stay current with quarterly data: Backlog and Banking sections should be updated every quarter.
- Review their deductions: See which financial ratios may be triggering deductions and consider what improvements could be made.
- Submit complete data: Missing pieces like a cash flow statement can cost points.
Summary
The Highwire Finance Score makes it easy for contractors to understand and improve their financial standing. It balances how complete their information is, how strong their financials are, and how much risk they may represent. Because it’s normalized, the score is always fairly scaled and ready for clients to review.
-END ARTICLE-