Sewickley Company
Use the Liabilities Section of Sewickley Company's Balance

Sewickley Company
Use the Liabilities section of Sewickley Company's balance sheet to answer the questions that follow.

$\begin{array}{c}\text {Sewickley Company}\\\text {Consolidated Balance Sheets}\\ \text {(in millions)}\\\begin{array}{lrr}&\quad\quad\text { December 31,} \\&2018 & 2017 \\\text { Current liabilities }\\\text { Short-term borrowings } & \$ 354 & \$ 202 \\\text { Accounts payable and other current liabilities } & 4,461 & 4,529 \\\text { Income taxes payable } & \underline{183} & \underline{64} \\\text { Total current liabilities } & \$ 4,998 & \$ 4,795\\\\\text { Long-term debt } & \$ 2,651 & \$ 3,009 \\\text { Other long-term li abilities } & 3,876 & 3,960 \\\text { Deferred income taxes (assume all are long-term) } & 1,496 & 1,367\end{array}\end{array}$
-Review the consolidated balance sheets of Sewickley Company.
Required
Which one of the liabilities shown in the balance sheets is used in the calculation of the debt-to-equity ratio?
If we can assume that the stockholders' equity total remained relatively constant for the two years,how would the ratio change (increase/decrease)from 2017 to 2018? What would this say about the company's financial position?