<![CDATA[This study aims to examine the effects of liquidity and leverage on financial distress and to investigate the role of profitability as mediating variable in food and beverage companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange during 2015-2024. A quantitative approach was employed using secondary data obtained from corporate financial statements. The sample was selected through purposive sampling, resulting in 22 companies and 220 data observations. Liquidity was measured using the Current Ratio (CR), leverage using the Debt to Asset Ratio (DAR), profitability using the Net Profit Margin (NPM), and financial distress using the Altman Z-Score. Data were analysed using path analysis with the HC3 robust approach through IBM Statistics 27. The result indicate that liquidity has no significant effect on profitability or financial distress. Leverage has significant negative effect on profitability and reduces the Z-Score, indicating an increased risk of financial distress. Profitability has a significant positive effect on the Z-Score. The mediation analysis reveals that profitability does not mediate the effect of liquidity on financial distress but partially mediates the effect of leverage on financial distress. These findings highlight the importance of managing corporate debt structure alongside efforts to sustain profitability in strengthening financial resilience.]]>
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