#metrics
Key financial metrics and KPIs for business health
Economic Value Added (EVA) = NOPAT − (WACC × invested capital) — the profit left after every source of capital, debt and equity alike, is paid its going rate. A worked example, how to estimate NOPAT and WACC, why EVA avoids ROI's percentage bias, and how small business owners can use it for capital decisions.
2026 data from 600+ Acquire.com listings shows bootstrapped SaaS selling at roughly 2.6x TTM revenue and 10.7x profit — a 30–50% discount to public comps. Here's how NRR, CAC payback, customer concentration, and reconciled books move your multiple, and the diligence documents buyers actually request.
How VR arcades and location-based entertainment venues should keep their books — split revenue across six streams, book party deposits as deferred-revenue liabilities, depreciate each $50,000+ station separately, and track revenue per available station hour, the LBE equivalent of a hotel's RevPAR.
Prepaid training packages are a liability, not income — how fitness studios should use deferred revenue accounting, classify instructors under the FLSA economic-reality test, and track the KPIs, like the 70–75% class utilization benchmark, that separate profitable studios from struggling ones.
Days cash on hand measures how many days a business can pay operating expenses using only its current cash balance, with small businesses typically running 30–60 days and 90+ days considered a strong cushion.
How independent doulas should structure their books — allocating prepaid birth packages across performance obligations, classifying backup doulas correctly, handling HSA/FSA and Medicaid payment pathways, and reading the KPIs that predict whether a perinatal practice is actually sustainable.
A working playbook for owner-operators of boutique indoor golf simulator lounges — how to recognize bay rental, membership, league, and breakage revenue under ASC 606; capitalize $24K Trackman units and $60K bay buildouts via Section 179, bonus depreciation, and QIP cost segregation; classify teaching pros correctly; and read the bay-utilization and revenue-per-bay-hour KPIs that separate profitable lounges from the rest.
A working framework for boutique pilates studios: applying ASC 606 to class packs and memberships, handling breakage and escheat, classifying instructors under the DOL 2024 rule and state ABC tests, accelerating reformer deductions via Section 179 and cost segregation, and tracking reformer-hour utilization and retention KPIs.
How rural wedding venues should handle ASC 606 booking retainers, refundable deposit trust liabilities, vendor commission disclosure, Section 179 and QIP cost segregation, force-majeure refund reserves, and the per-Saturday KPIs that signal profitability.
How HVAC contractors should structure their books: deferred revenue under ASC 606 for maintenance plans, EPA Section 608 and AIM Act refrigerant recordkeeping after the 15-pound threshold and R-410A phase-down, Section 179 deductions for service vans, and the five KPIs that actually predict cash flow.
A working guide to bookkeeping for owner-operated residential assisted living and personal care homes — ASC 606 treatment of community fees, payer-mix subledgers for Medicaid waiver and VA Aid and Attendance, caregiver W-2 vs 1099 classification, cost segregation strategy after the 2025 bonus depreciation reset, and the seven KPIs that predict profitability in 6-to-16 bed senior care homes.
How indoor climbing and bouldering gyms should handle deferred membership revenue under ASC 606, Section 179 elections on walls and holds, W-2 vs 1099 setter classification, insurance reserves, and operating KPIs like revenue per square foot, churn, and member density.
