Edlintics Journal
Exam-targeted writing on accounting, finance & the spreadsheet.
Documentation-style notes for European business students. Read the concept, see the diagram, then take it into a working session before your exam.
When a card charge and a card payment fall in different months
Cards cross a year end in both directions: money customers already paid you that hasn't settled, and costs you already incurred that the statement bills next month. Both need an adjusting entry, and a shop that skips them can understate December profit by thousands while January flatters itself.
Proving an expense is legitimate
A valid invoice gets you to the starting line. In a tax audit the question is not whether you spent the money — the bank statement settles that — but whether the spending belonged to the business. Four layers of proof, and the two that owners almost never keep.
What a 10 percent discount really costs
A 10 percent discount doesn't cost 10 percent of profit. It can cost a third of it — and require a third more volume just to stand still. Here is the contribution arithmetic behind a discount that feels small and isn't.
What an employee really costs
A €40,000 salary offer is not a €40,000 decision. Add employer contributions, setup and overhead, and a first hire runs closer to €58,000 in year one — 45 percent more than the number on the offer letter.
A budget is not a forecast
Woodfen Outdoor's January budget said €400,000. By October its forecast said €405,000, having already swung to €430,000 and back. Only one of those two numbers was ever meant to move.
Borrow it, or sell a slice
A bank loan and an equity sale can hand a small company the same €60,000. They do not cost the same thing — one is a capped bill that ends, the other is an uncapped share of profit that never does.
How to read a cash flow statement
A business can post a healthy profit and still end the year with less cash than it started — or the other way around. The cash flow statement explains the difference by splitting every euro that moved into three stories: operating, investing and financing.
Your hourly rate is lower than you think
Most freelancers set a rate by guessing a salary and dividing by the hours in a year. The real cost-plus number accounts for unbilled time and business overhead — and it is usually nearly double the guess. Value-based pricing can go higher still.
Before you buy the machine
A payback period tells you when a machine pays for itself. It says nothing about what happens after. Weighing two real equipment options shows why payback and return on investment can point in different directions — and why a business needs both.
Cash on the shelf
A shelf of unsold stock looks like an asset on the balance sheet. It behaves like cash locked in a drawer. Inventory turnover and days inventory outstanding turn that shelf into a number — and show exactly how much cash is sitting there.
The real cost of net 60
Agreeing to net 60 payment terms isn't just a scheduling detail. It means financing a customer's cash flow for an extra month, and that financing has a price — even though no interest is ever invoiced. Karstall Components works out what its own 'free loan' actually costs.
Three margins, one income statement
Gross margin, operating margin and net margin all sit on the same income statement — and each answers a different question. Halden Outdoor Supply reads its own numbers three ways to show why quoting just one of them can mislead.