Controller Metrics – Page 2

Full-Time Equivalents (FTE) is a standardised workforce measurement that converts all employee types—full-time, part-time, contractors, interns, and temporary workers—into equivalent full-time positions. This calculated metric provides a unified view of your total workforce capacity by expressing everyone's contribution as fractions of a standard full-time schedule (typically 40 hours per week or 5 days). Unlike simply counting heads, FTE gives you the true picture of your organisational capacity and enables accurate cross-company comparisons regardless of employment structure.

Gross Burn is the total cash a company spends on operations each month, including salaries, rent, overhead, interest, and taxes. Unlike Net Burn, Gross Burn does not account for revenue — it reflects the full cost of keeping the business running.

Gross Margin is a profitability ratio that measures Gross Profit as a percentage of total revenue. Typically, it is calculated as Gross Profit divided by Revenue. This metric is a key indicator of a company's financial health and operational efficiency.

Gross Profit is the revenue remaining after subtracting the Cost of Goods Sold (COGS). It shows how efficiently a company produces and sells its goods or services, and how much revenue is available to cover operating costs and generate net income.

Inventory carrying cost is the total expense a business incurs to store and maintain unsold inventory over a given period, expressed as a percentage of inventory value. It includes capital costs, storage, insurance, taxes, and inventory risk such as spoilage or obsolescence. Most businesses see carrying costs between 15% and 30% of total inventory value. Tracking this metric helps optimize reorder quantities, reduce overstocking, and protect profit margins.

Net Burn, often referred to as Burn Rate, is the amount a company is losing per month as they burn through their cash reserves. It occurs when a company’s operating costs are higher than their revenue. A company that is profitable and generating cash has a "negative Net Burn".

Net Cash Flow is the difference between all cash inflows and all cash outflows for a given period, showing whether a business generated or consumed cash.

Net Financial Debt (NFD) is the portion of a company's debt that remains after subtracting cash and short-term investments from total financial obligations. Unlike gross debt, NFD reflects what a company would owe if it used its most liquid assets to pay down borrowings immediately, giving analysts and executives a cleaner measure of leverage and liquidity risk.

Net Income is the profit remaining after subtracting all expenses, including COGS, operating costs, taxes, and interest, from total revenue. It appears at the bottom of the income statement and is one of the most direct measures of a business's profitability. Also called the bottom line, Net Income is used by investors, analysts, and management to evaluate financial health and guide strategic decisions.

Net profit is the value that remains after all expenses are subtracted from the company's total income. It is one of the best ways to determine a business' profitability and is often referred to as the bottom line. Net profit represents the ultimate financial outcome of all business activities during a specific period and appears as the final line item on the income statement, hence the term "bottom line."

Net Sales is the revenue a business retains after subtracting discounts, product returns, and damaged goods from Gross Sales. It is a more accurate measure of actual earnings than Gross Sales alone.

Non-operating expenses are the sum of all costs unrelated to a company's core business operations, such as interest payments, asset disposal losses, foreign exchange losses, restructuring charges, and one-time write-downs. These expenses are typically non-recurring and do not arise from day-to-day business activities.