Budget law: the income tax cut for the middle class brings blue-collar workers €4. A self-employed worker who moves to the flat tax saves eight thousand
13 November 2026, 16:29
The Parliamentary Budget Office and Istat have run the numbers on the 2027 budget law: the income tax cut goes mainly to managers, while the wider flat tax rewards those who leave IRPEF. Meanwhile inflation, with tax brackets frozen, takes more from employees and pensioners than the cut gives back.
Preferential origin: a component made in Italy counts as European only if the supplier declares it
13 November 2026, 08:11
Brussels is considering postponing the duty that from 2027 would hit electric cars traded with the United Kingdom without enough European or British content. The minimum share is calculated on the value of the materials, and a part produced in Italy counts as European only if whoever supplies it declares its origin in writing.
Monte dei Paschi: the State rescued it and has not yet got its money back. Now Intesa wants to buy it and promises its shareholders €61 billion in dividends
12 November 2026, 16:13
Between 2017 and 2022 the Treasury spent about €7 billion on the Siena bank and has not yet got all of it back. On 10 November Intesa Sanpaolo published the prospectus for its bid: the plan offers the new group's shareholders five years of dividends, and families and small businesses less competition.
Subscription software is a cost of the year, purchased software is an investment
12 November 2026, 08:09
Since this week the Ministry of Enterprises has been covering part of what small and medium-sized businesses spend on cloud services and cybersecurity, subscription software included. Before choosing between a subscription and a purchase, it is worth knowing that the two routes end up on different lines of the income statement, and that the EBITDA read by banks changes even when the spending stays the same.
Mothers' bonus: the budget raises it for those with two children. From those with three and a permanent job it can take up to three thousand euros a year
11 November 2026, 23:03
From 2027 the budget law replaces the relief on the pension contribution of mothers with at least three children with an allowance of one hundred euros a month, only below forty thousand euros of income. It is presented as a measure against the falling birth rate: the technical report says how much it costs, not how many mothers lose out.
ABC analysis of purchases: how to find the suppliers nobody has ever negotiated with
11 November 2026, 08:11
A large German distance-selling group has handed negotiations with its smallest suppliers, whose prices used to go through unchallenged, to an artificial intelligence. In an SME those suppliers can be found with an ABC analysis of purchases, and the biggest saving often comes from cutting their number rather than from a discount.
Campania routes its health service purchases through a single company to spend less and control more. Its chairman is in prison, accused of corruption over two tenders
10 November 2026, 16:13
The chairman of Soresa, the body that buys for Campania's hospitals and health authorities, allegedly pocketed €120,000 to steer two contracts worth over €53 million, for hospital stretchers and for waste collection in Somma Vesuviana. Meanwhile, the panel that scores the bids is still appointed by the body that launches the tender.
Second IRES advance payment: the forecast method only holds up on a well-built pre-closing estimate
10 November 2026, 08:09
By the end of the month, Italian limited companies pay the last instalment of their income tax for the current year. A company earning less in 2026 can base it on an estimate for the year rather than on its 2025 tax, but the estimate has to go all the way down to taxable income: if it turns out too low, a penalty is charged on the shortfall.
Energy bills: the budget helps businesses pay for electricity. From 2029 the cost passes to other consumers, inside the renewables charge
9 November 2026, 16:07
For two years the electricity discount for businesses is paid by the public purse. From 2029 the budget moves it onto energy bills, inside the charge meant to support renewable sources: with biomethane, up to €3.2 billion over two years.
Variable-rate loans: an interest rate swap protects a business only if it mirrors the loan
9 November 2026, 08:17
With euro-area inflation accelerating, markets expect the European Central Bank to raise the cost of money again soon, and businesses with indexed debt may be offered a hedging contract by their bank. It works only if it follows the loan in amount, dates and benchmark, and what it costs can be read before signing.
Hacker attacks: Palazzo Chigi cites them in support of €40 billion of military spending. To protect networks, the State allocates just over €400 million
8 November 2026, 16:13
In Verona the Prime Minister explained that defence money also protects food and hospitals from cyber attacks. In 2027 military spending will exceed €40 billion; the identifiable budget lines for cyber security are worth one hundredth of that figure, and the budget law cuts some of them further.
Turnover has grown: how much comes from prices and how much from the quantities sold
8 November 2026, 08:07
According to the Bank of Italy, sales by Italian companies grew faster in the first nine months of the year, but the figure is calculated at today's prices and price lists have gone up. Before deciding on headcount, purchasing and the 2027 budget, it pays to separate, within sales growth, the part that comes from prices from the part that comes from volumes.
In Irpinia a local firm reopens with €13.2 million the factory ArcelorMittal left behind. In Taranto the State has spent €3.6 billion and the former Ilva has gone cold
7 November 2026, 16:07
At the Ministry of Enterprise an Irpinian maker of metal structures signed the preliminary agreement for the Luogosano plant: it takes back the workers and will hire more. In the same week the Taranto steelworks, kept alive for years with public money, shut down its last blast furnace.
When a customer stops the line, it pays only for what it had confirmed or authorised
7 November 2026, 08:13
Stellantis warns that a shortage of an electronic component may halt some Fiat lines in Italy until the end of the year. For anyone supplying an assembly line the question is who pays for parts already made and materials already bought, and the answer lies in the delivery schedule, which mixes commitments and forecasts.
Otranto: the Ministry of Culture spends €1.8 million on seventeen nights of light shows. The three richest assignments made without a tender stop just below the threshold
6 November 2026, 16:13
To project animations onto six monuments in Salento, the Regional Directorate of National Museums of Puglia awarded eight assignments out of nine without comparing bids. Across Italy, contracts written a step away from the limit above which a tender would be required are now almost nine times as many as in 2021.
The withholding on invoices between businesses is measured against corporate income tax, not against turnover
6 November 2026, 08:13
The 2027 budget doubles the withholding that, from 2028, anyone paying another Italian company's invoice will hold back and pay to the Treasury on the supplier's behalf. How much cash it takes is not decided by sales but by how they compare with income tax: below a certain level of profitability, a credit towards the Treasury builds up every year, and it has to be forecast, recorded and used.
Pensions: the budget slows the increases of those who have stopped working to pay for early exit for those still in work
5 November 2026, 16:13
The budget bill cuts the 2027 inflation adjustment on pensions above four times the minimum and, three articles earlier, sets up a fund of almost the same size to let people leave work early. Those who lose the increase never get it back.
Safety stock is not set by falling orders
5 November 2026, 08:13
The monthly survey of purchasing managers says that in October Italian factories received fewer orders and slimmed down their warehouses, and that some of them ate into the reserves set aside when the conflict in the Middle East broke out, while suppliers' deliveries kept being interrupted. The stock of an item is made of two parts that respond to different causes: which one shrinks when demand falls, which one must be protected when supplies become uncertain, and what to enter in the management software.
Superbonus: the budget pushes back to 2036 the credits banks and businesses were due to use in 2027. Without interest
4 November 2026, 16:13
Article 37 of the budget bill splits into ten annual instalments the 20.5 billion in tax credits falling due next year. The Treasury lightens its own debt; those who wait lose value.
A customer entering a creditors' arrangement can happen to anyone: credit management decides what it costs
4 November 2026, 08:13
A yacht builder is offering its suppliers a small part of what they are owed. Anyone selling on credit cannot choose which customer will get into trouble, but decides every day how much to be exposed: how exposure grows unseen, the credit limit and the order block, the email that gets the debt acknowledged, credit insurance and factoring.
Healthcare: the budget gives over-75s €300 to spend only outside the public service. Families already pay €42.4 billion out of their own pockets
3 November 2026, 16:13
The budget bill sets aside €1.6 billion for a card that helps elderly people pay for care not covered by the national health service, which in the same year receives €2.4 billion in new money. Meanwhile more than a fifth of health spending already comes out of families' pockets.
The loss on a job order goes into the accounts in full in the year it becomes foreseeable
3 November 2026, 08:13
The French train maker has announced that its contracts for regional transport in Germany will end in the red and has revised its forecasts for the year. For anyone who works to order, the question is when that loss must be recorded: the accounting rule requires it to be recognised in full in the financial year in which it is seen, even if the work has only just begun.
Green hydrogen: at Marghera the recovery plan pays for a 750-tonne-a-year plant. Customers buy 50
2 November 2026, 16:13
With money from the recovery plan the State has financed fifty-one green hydrogen plants before there was anyone to buy the product, and is now preparing auctions to pay the price gap for fifteen years.
Letter of credit: how to get paid by a foreign customer you do not know
2 November 2026, 08:13
Istat records falling sales to the United States and strong growth to Turkey and China. Anyone looking for customers in new markets has to decide who answers for payment: a documentary credit shifts the promise from the buyer to a bank, which however pays only against documents that comply with what is written.
Slot machine emergency: Italians are gambling less and less. The budget steps in and doubles the stake
1 November 2026, 21:46
The 2027 budget bill raises the maximum stake from one euro to two to halt the «marked fall» in the sums staked, and expects «positive effects» from it. The State takes €11.4 billion a year from gambling; to prevent and treat gambling addiction it sets aside little more than €32 million.
What a bank reads in the Centrale dei rischi before granting a loan
1 November 2026, 07:55
Italy's Economy Minister has pointed out to the banks that less and less credit is reaching the smallest businesses. When a company applies for financing, besides the financial statements the lender reads the Centrale dei rischi, which shows month by month how the company uses the credit it has obtained from the whole system.
For some inner areas the State expects irreversible depopulation. In Meduno a company is investing €50 million and looking for 200 people
31 October 2026, 15:53
A food company is enlarging its factory in a mountain town that the State counts among its inner areas. The national plan for those areas provides, for some of them, for accompaniment towards "irreversible" depopulation.
In the budget, prices are updated item by item, not with the inflation rate
31 October 2026, 08:16
Istat estimated for October the highest rise in consumer prices in three years, with an average that hides items up by a third and others almost unchanged. Whoever is preparing the 2027 budget cannot apply a single percentage to all costs: each item rises with the mechanism written in its contract, and revenues follow their own timing.
Sicily: the Region raises the fund for the territories from 50 to 174 million. In Niscemi, after the landslide, the money goes to the stadium's press area
30 October 2026, 20:53
With the budget changes approved on 22 October, the Sicilian Regional Assembly handed out hundreds of small works town by town, without a call for proposals. The rule that set an equal amount for each population band was rejected in committee.
Make in-house or buy from a subcontractor: the comparison rests on the costs that really disappear
30 October 2026, 13:37
A company near Bergamo has spent money to bring in-house work it could have sent outside, and explains the choice with faster delivery to its customers. Anyone facing the same two paths cannot stop at the supplier's price: what counts is which expenses really go away, what time is worth and what happens when volumes fall.
Water in the Brescia area: the Province approves increases up to 2029. Part of the money for the networks had gone into other works
29 October 2026, 15:54
For a family of three the water bill rises to €459 a year. The Ufficio d'Ambito says it is needed to make up for missing investment, because for years part of the money meant for the networks went elsewhere, and meanwhile more than four litres in ten are lost from the pipes.
Turnover that depends on one person should be measured before that person leaves
29 October 2026, 07:58
One of New York's large law firms is heading for closure after a long run of partners leaving for competitors. In an Italian company the same risk lies in customers who know only their salesperson, and the share of sales that depends on them can be calculated before it turns into a loss.
Car tax 2027: the State scraps it for one year and reimburses the Regions. From 2028 the money is not there
28 October 2026, 16:00
The Parliamentary Budget Office has examined the car tax exemption for 2027: it helps less well-off families more but is paid for with one-off PNRR savings that will not recur, and the higher rate chosen by some Regions ends up being borne by everyone.
A product warranty is a cost of the year in which the sale is made
28 October 2026, 07:57
An Italian yacht builder extends its standard warranty by one year to support orders and lists that choice among the causes of lower margins: repairs are paid for in later years, but in the accounts they belong to the year of the sale.
Small parcels from outside the EU: the European fee starts on 1 November. Italy's own slips again, to 2027
27 October 2026, 16:07
From 1 November every small parcel arriving from outside the Union pays two euros for customs checks, and customs are ready. The levy Italy wrote into its budget law, by contrast, has been postponed four times, and every month of waiting costs millions in lost revenue.
When customers postpone projects, a fall in turnover shows up first in the orders
27 October 2026, 08:22
A German IT services group lowers its sales forecast for the year because customers are taking longer to decide: the ratio between orders received and turnover shows that slowdown before it reaches the invoices.
Gratta e Vinci: the State promises the million-euro prize to everyone. The loss is that someone won it
26 October 2026, 18:19
The Court of Auditors wants €25 million from five former Lottomatica employees over four winning tickets that ended up with friends and relatives. The State, which in 2017 had left the game with the same companies without a tender to collect in a hurry, noticed at its leisure.
NFP/EBITDA ratio: how it is calculated and what it measures
26 October 2026, 09:43
The ratio between net financial position and EBITDA expresses debt in years of margin. The figures are taken from the financial statements, leases included, and the result is compared with reading bands and with the caps written into loan contracts.
2016 earthquake in the Marche: the anti-mafia register was meant to keep the clans out, prosecutors find them on the building sites as subcontractors
25 October 2026, 18:19
The Guardia di Finanza in Ancona seizes €57 million in the rebuilding of the Marche after the 2016 earthquake: according to prosecutors, firms and people close to Calabrian and Campanian organised crime were working as subcontractors. Yet the firms on those sites must be listed in an anti-mafia register created for the purpose.
A manager's bonus should be tied to what the manager decides
25 October 2026, 08:57
At Lindt, managers' bonuses will reflect the targets missed in the countries where customers did not accept the higher chocolate prices. Variable pay works when the target measures the choices of the person who receives it and what the business earns from them.
In Modena the minister cuts a ribbon for recycled plastic. The companies in the sector have been waiting for the ministry for a year
24 October 2026, 18:31
On 20 October Gilberto Pichetto Fratin opened Aliplast's plant for hard plastic. The 86 Italian companies that regenerate plastic have been asking for help for a year, and Italy pays Brussels hundreds of millions for the packaging it does not recover.
A process is reorganised before it is automated
24 October 2026, 09:39
American Express is removing layers of management before handing part of its work to artificial intelligence. In an SME the sequence is the same: first the path of an order is redesigned, from customer to payment, with one person accountable for it; then the software to manage it is chosen.
Pensions from 2027: the cut is the same for everyone, life expectancy is not
23 October 2026, 18:25
A decree from the Ministry of Labour lowers the pensions of those who retire from 2027, because on average Italians live longer. But the average lumps together the company director and the manual worker, who at 67 do not have the same life expectancy.
When sales fall, reducible costs are found in the history of the accounts
23 October 2026, 09:38
Volvo Cars is responding to falling sales with a new round of cost cuts, keeping indirect spend separate from variable costs. In an SME, too, the items to bring down are identified by comparing them with past years: fixed items in euros, variable items by their share of turnover.
The delivery term written into the contract decides who collects a duty refund
22 October 2026, 09:42
Sartorius has passed on to its customers the US tariffs that US customs is returning to the group. A duty refund goes to whoever appears as the importer on the customs declaration, and who that is depends on the delivery term in the sales contract.
The State wants fewer cars on the road. Its railway more than doubles the fare for those who left the car at home
21 October 2026, 18:32
From 1 November Trenitalia, a state-owned company, scraps the carnet used by people who go to the office once or twice a week: for them the train costs more than twice as much. Against empty seats, the solution is fewer passengers.
Equity shows how much of the company the shareholders have paid for
21 October 2026, 09:42
The ratio between equity and total assets, the equity ratio, shows how much of a company the shareholders have paid for and how many losses it can withstand. It is read over three sets of accounts, with shareholder loans among the debts.
EU farm aid: the owner's consent is signed by whoever collects the money. The owner is left with an app
20 October 2026, 18:32
On the smallest plots in the mountains and hills, whoever claims EU aid can declare on their own that the owner agrees. To find out, the owner has to download an app.
Dependence on a single supplier is measured by the turnover it can stop
20 October 2026, 09:42
Japan is asking the United States for help over yttrium, a rare earth that weighs little in purchases and can stop the production of jet engines and semiconductors. In a business, the risk of a component with a single source is read through the bills of materials, in the turnover of the products that contain it.
TIM's former network: KKR's clearance rested on a promise, not on a condition. Now Brussels is challenging it
19 October 2026, 18:18
In 2024 Brussels left the contracts under which other companies rent TIM's former network out of the conditions of its clearance, relying on KKR's word. Now that operators are complaining of price rises, the remedy on offer is a capped fine, and higher wholesale prices may end up in internet subscriptions.
Liquidity ratio: how it is calculated and what it should be
19 October 2026, 10:34
There are two versions, with and without inventory, and the gap between them shows how much the payments of the coming months depend on stock. Reference thresholds only hold for the formula they were built on.
High-speed rail: Webuild's consortia halt the sites, and whoever pays for the work and whoever owns a sixth of the builder answer to the same ministry
18 October 2026, 18:23
The consortia led by Webuild have suspended work on the Terzo Valico and the Messina-Catania line over a money dispute with Rfi. The extra claims are worth almost as much as the contracts, and the Ministry of Economy and Finance sits on both sides of the table.
A company's creditworthiness shows in the spread, not in the interest rate
18 October 2026, 09:36
According to the Financial Times, Anthropic is offering Blackstone more than 10 per cent on the part repaid last of the debt that funds the chips intended for Anthropic: whoever lends charges for the risk. In a company's loans that charge has a name, the spread, and it can be worked out contract by contract.
Former Bekaert plant in Cagliari: the multinational sells up, and a Sardinian company looking for welders retrains the 150 workers instead of laying them off
17 October 2026, 18:22
Belgium's Bekaert left its Macchiareddu plant citing transport and island costs; since Thursday it has been run by Nuova Icom, which builds subsea structures for gas, keeps all 150 workers and sends them back to school: anyone who fails the test takes the course again.
A loss-making branch is judged on the costs that disappear when it closes
17 October 2026, 09:33
To decide whether to keep a store, a department or a product line, the costs that disappear with the closure are separated from the shared overheads, which remain. A branch that shows a loss on its full account may be paying part of everyone's structure, and closing it worsens the result.
Magistrates' pay: the State miscalculated it for years, and the bill lands in the budget that cannot find the money for income tax cuts
16 October 2026, 20:19
Italy's Council of State has struck down the method used to update magistrates' salaries. The bill for past years now enters the 2027 budget law, the same one in which there is not enough money for the middle class.
Multi-year supply contracts: a fixed price leaves cost increases with the seller
16 October 2026, 09:47
On 15 October Ericsson said it will pass higher component costs on to customers when current contracts expire. A price fixed for several years protects the buyer; the seller protects itself with a price review clause written before signing.
Speed cameras: the law has required them to be type-approved since 1992, the procedure arrived in 2026, the fines had already been paid
15 October 2026, 22:37
Italy's Highway Code has required type-approved speed cameras since 1992. The ministry wrote down how to type-approve them in June 2026, after a ruling by the Court of Cassation, and it applies only from then on: fines paid before stay paid.
When a business grows, receivables absorb cash even if customers pay on time
15 October 2026, 09:23
On 14 October Airbus said it will soon decide whether to build more A350 aircraft each month than the 12-13 its current assembly line is designed for. For anyone supplying a customer that is increasing production, selling more means advancing more money: receivables and stocks grow with turnover before the payments come in.
Covid waste: to dispose of the masks, the State cuts the funds for people harmed by transfusions and vaccines
14 October 2026, 18:22
For years the State has been paying to store 22,692 tonnes of masks, overalls and gloves bought during the emergency and never used; now a commissioner must dispose of them by March 2027, with €84 million taken largely from the funds for people harmed by transfusions and vaccinations.
The hyper-depreciation allowance is worth the tax it saves, and that saving comes back one year at a time
14 October 2026, 09:27
In the third quarter, machine-tool orders placed in Italy fell by 7.1%, and the manufacturers are counting on the hyper-depreciation allowance for a recovery. For the buyer, the 180% uplift is not the value of the support: the support is the IRES paid less, payment after payment, over the years of depreciation.
Chinese hybrids: for two years a petrol engine was enough to dodge the EU duty
13 October 2026, 18:24
The EU's 2024 duty hit only Chinese electric cars: hybrids arriving in the Union rose from 107,000 in 2024 to about 378,000 in the first seven months of 2026, and the cap agreed now, 350,000 a year, still sits above 2025.
A pay rise is measured on the total employment cost, not on the gross salary
13 October 2026, 09:35
On 12 October Istat told Parliament that pay has stopped catching up with prices: with the renewals signed up to August, contractual pay in 2026 would grow by 2.5 per cent, against inflation already locked in at 3. When a pay rise comes, what counts for the business is not the figure written in the agreement but the amount that ends up in staff costs, contributions and severance pay included.
Illegal telemarketing: Agcom fines the companies that supplied the numbers, the call centres remain unnamed
12 October 2026, 18:19
Retelit Digital Services and Tekmind have been fined €822,500 for failing to check how call centres used the numbers assigned to them; the regulator says it also traced the call centres, but their names are not in its press release.
Adequate organisational structures: what Article 2086 of the Italian Civil Code requires, and who must have them
12 October 2026, 09:34
Since 2019 every business run as a company must be able to tell in time whether it will manage to pay its debts: what it needs is not a binder of procedures but monthly figures and a forecast that looks at least a year ahead.
Lorries on ships: the State promised up to 30 cents a kilometre, it pays 6, and late
11 October 2026, 18:19
Sicilian hauliers are stopping from 16 to 22 October. The Sea Modal Shift, the Ministry of Infrastructure's reward for putting a lorry on a ship, covers a fifth of what was claimed for the first year of journeys, and the balance has still not arrived; meanwhile the ferry ticket now carries the cost of CO2 as well.
A fall in the price of a raw material reaches the margin late
11 October 2026, 09:46
On 9 October the United States Department of Agriculture raised its estimate of the American maize harvest, and on the Chicago exchange the price of maize for December delivery fell by about 4 per cent in a single day. If purchases become cheaper in Italy too, those who buy maize will see the saving in their accounts with a delay, because they must first use up the stock they have already bought.
Bialetti returns to profit: just over one cent for every euro of normalised EBITDA
10 October 2026, 18:19
Bialetti opens two shops in Turin and hires five people, after closing 2025 with €24 million of normalised EBITDA and about €0.3 million of profit: in between lie, among other things, depreciation, interest, taxes and non-recurring charges.
Money idle in one account, an overdraft in another: the interest is paid all the same
10 October 2026, 09:37
In August, according to the Bank of Italy, businesses earned an average of 0.63 per cent on money in current accounts and paid 4.33 per cent on overdrafts. A business with cash at one bank and debt at another pays the difference, even though its net debt does not change.
American Express fined $350 million: its risk assessment looked at current accounts, while $13 billion of suspicious transactions went through its cards
9 October 2026, 18:20
The US authority that supervises national banks has fined American Express National Bank: among the failings, a risk assessment focused on current accounts, a narrow part of the business, and paying too little attention to cards, through which about $13 billion of transactions suspected of money laundering passed between 2014 and 2025, counting both the charges and the payments that settled them.
Dearer energy raises the break-even point: the increase is measured in turnover to be added, not in euros on the bill
9 October 2026, 09:40
In the Bank of Italy survey of firms with at least 50 employees, published on 8 October, more than four in five report higher energy costs because of the war in the Middle East, and about 45 per cent of those affected have taken no countermeasures. An energy price rise is measured in euros, the profit lost, and in turnover: the extra sales needed to pay for it by selling more, which is far more than the bill.
Carousel fraud in electronics: the VAT the missing trader never pays becomes the discount, and the European rule that allows it has been "transitional" since 1993
8 October 2026, 18:17
In the Hermes investigation, 93 Italian companies and invoices alleged to be false for over €450 million between 2022 and 2025: electronics cross EU borders free of VAT, the tax collected in Italy never reaches the State, and the rule that allows it has been written as provisional for thirty-three years.
One month does not make a trend: the pace of sales is read over three months, leaving out exceptional orders
8 October 2026, 16:27
In Germany production rose by 2% in August while manufacturing orders slumped by 10.6%: put on the same basis, stripped of large orders and read over the quarter, the two figures tell a different story, and the same method helps to read a company's turnover.
Disposable cooperatives: the tax debt dies with the cooperative, the cheap labour stays with whoever uses it
7 October 2026, 18:21
In Rome the Guardia di Finanza seizes over €14 million: four cooperatives hired 2,478 workers on paper for other companies, did not pay their taxes and closed down with their debts. The law has provided for a check, and has entrusted it to the only party that saves money by skipping it.
Storms in Lombardy, €376 million of damage: the compulsory policy pays for the machines, cash pays for the months of shutdown
7 October 2026, 09:36
Since 2026 every business must insure its buildings and plant against floods, landslides and earthquakes, but the compulsory policy only reimburses damaged assets: the weeks in which the company produces nothing and keeps paying remain uncovered, and they need measuring beforehand.
Polish number plates in Naples: the insurance that is saved is paid for by drivers in Poland
6 October 2026, 18:30
Around 60,000 cars and motorbikes are on the road in Italy, almost all in Naples and its province, registered to Polish companies that do nothing; when they cause an accident without a policy, Polish insurers advance the damages, and from January to August the bill has already reached 35 million zloty.
In Italian cinema public aid is worth 37 per cent of production: a company's margin must also be read without the grants
6 October 2026, 09:42
The Ministry of Culture's report on the film law shows companies whose operating result is positive and turns negative once grants are removed. The same check applies to any business: the grant sits among revenues and lifts EBITDA, but it lasts only as long as the rule that provides it.
Electrolux withdraws the dismissals but not the job cuts, and the suppliers were not at the ministry's table
5 October 2026, 18:22
Of the 1,700 jobs announced in May, 1,385 are still going, over three years and with state-backed wage support; across the Friuli Venezia Giulia supply chain, more than a thousand business sites work in the sector and nobody invited them.
The euro hits its lowest since May 2025: currency risk weighs on the dollars paid out that sales do not bring back
5 October 2026, 09:42
Anyone buying in dollars pays more even if the supplier leaves its price list untouched; anyone selling across the Atlantic collects more. The number to know is not the value of the euro but the gap between the currency going out and the currency coming in, and in the accounts part of the price rise ends up among the financial charges.
Cigarette butts: since 5 January 2023 the clean-up was the tobacco producers' job, the regulation arrives only now and meanwhile the waste tax pays for it
4 October 2026, 18:52
Europe made those who sell cigarettes pay for cleaning up the filters thrown on the ground too; in Italy the regulation is out for consultation almost four years later, and in the meantime the bill sits in the waste tax paid by households and businesses.
In Lombardy those running companies are increasingly over fifty: generational handover is prepared early, and on the numbers too
4 October 2026, 10:24
Confindustria Lombardia launches Bridge Up to support succession in family businesses; the data show it has been put off for twenty-five years, and that whoever takes over must be able to present a plan, not just a surname.
In Verolavecchia a €25 million dairy farm does not just wait for the Ministry's price: it also takes its milk to where people drink it
3 October 2026, 18:44
Cascina Malgherosse produces more than 100,000 litres of milk a day, employs ten more people than four years ago and, while the farm-gate price is decided in Rome, puts its milk into vending machines in schools, offices and gyms.
Amazon sells its chips and rents them back: selling an asset and leasing it back is debt under another name, and in an SME's accounts it weighs on the margin
3 October 2026, 09:54
A sale and leaseback brings in cash at once and pays it back in instalments; under Italian accounting standards it moves the whole lease payment above EBITDA, and the bank sees the debt anyway.
The Feast of St Francis: the law budgets for the State's €10 million, not for the €3 billion paid by businesses
2 October 2026, 18:31
4 October falls on a Sunday: this year the State spends nothing, businesses pay an extra day's wages, and their bill appears nowhere in the law.
In August shops took more money and sold less: turnover is read by separating prices from quantities
2 October 2026, 11:07
Istat measures retail sales twice, in euros and in volume, and in August the two figures moved in opposite directions: the same check, run on a company's own turnover, shows whether it is growing or has simply raised its price lists.
Gold bars: to plea-bargain a tax fraud you pay the State first; to plea-bargain after collecting the savings of 2,400 people you give nothing back
1 October 2026, 18:17
Italy's Court of Cassation has made five plea bargains final in the gold-bar investigation into Global Group Consulting, and the savers will not get a single euro out of that trial. The law requires payment before a plea bargain only when the victim is the State: yes for tax fraud and corruption, no for people's savings.
In Japan small firms see their purchases go up more often than large ones, yet raise prices just as much: a price list is updated on the cost structure
1 October 2026, 09:27
The Bank of Japan's Tankan survey says large companies are at their most confident in eight years, and in a table further down it shows that small firms see their purchases go up more often but raise their prices no more than the large ones. A price that is not recalculated item by item stays put, and the margin pays the difference.
Naples-Bari high-speed line: the State pays €5.8 billion, and the people who control the building sites can be bought with a panettone
30 September 2026, 18:17
Twenty precautionary measures over the works on the Naples-Bari high-speed line: according to the prosecution, a subcontractor paid the people in the consortia who decided on work and payments with cash in Christmas parcels. The bigger problem is the chain: the State pays, and choosing, measuring and paying is left to whoever receives the parcel. The concrete picks up the bill.
French inflation keeps pushing rates up: the rise reaches the accounts through variable-rate debt, on the date written in the contract
30 September 2026, 09:46
In France prices have risen by 3 per cent in a year, and the ECB, which has already raised rates twice in 2026, remains under pressure. For a business the rise does not arrive on the day of the announcement: it arrives through Euribor, only on variable-rate debt and on the reset date written in the contract. It is a sum that can be worked out in advance.
Building-bonus tax credits were created without checks, and if one is fake, the buyer pays
29 September 2026, 21:46
In Trani, seizures worth €88 million: building-bonus tax credits generated several times over on the same homes, without a single job being done. The system allowed it: all it took was an online notice with no checks, and a VAT number to do the work. And when a credit turns out to be fake, even those who bought it in good faith lose it.
Japan's rice has gone from shortage to glut: stock bought out of fear is paid for twice
29 September 2026, 09:29
In two years Japan has gone from empty shelves to a rice surplus, and today growers are selling below the cost of production. It is the path of every stock built up out of fear, in business too: it is paid for once in cash, when it is bought, and a second time in the accounts, when the price falls.
The diesel discount hasn't ended: now Eni pays for it instead of the State
28 September 2026, 21:03
The State is cutting the diesel discount that cost it about €12 million a day, and at the same moment Eni is capping prices at its filling stations. The bill moves from taxes to the oil companies' margins, and competitors have to follow suit with their own money.
Mercedes wants more hours for the same pay, but an hour only gets cheaper if someone buys it
28 September 2026, 09:33
Mercedes-Benz management wants to lengthen the working week of its German workers without raising their pay, so every hour paid would cost less. But the cost that matters to anyone drawing up quotations is the cost of the hour sold: it is calculated on the hours that actually end up on an order, and the gap between those and the hours paid is the number almost nobody measures.
In the vineyards between Gorizia and Udine, an hour's work was worth less than €3
27 September 2026, 18:23
The Guardia di Finanza in Gorizia found 107 undeclared workers in the area's vineyards, in some cases paid less than €3 net an hour. Punishing those who exploit is right. But behind the coachloads of farmhands lies a problem every business knows: in the vineyards, and not only there, Italians no longer go.
Barilla builds a mill in Foggia and sells two: making in-house pays only above a threshold
27 September 2026, 10:13
Barilla is spending €100 million on a mill next to its pasta factory in Foggia, while selling two mills and continuing to buy their semolina. It is not a contradiction: making in-house what is otherwise bought turns a cost that follows sales into a cost that has to be paid regardless, and it pays only above a turnover threshold that should be calculated before signing.
In Orzinuovi an abandoned nightclub has become a factory in nine months
26 September 2026, 18:23
On the site of the Kalua, closed and abandoned for years, the AB group has built a 16,500-square-metre plant where around a hundred people will work. A story that begins in 1981 with a 21-year-old and the electrical systems of the cowsheds of the plain south of Brescia.
Turnover grows by 3 per cent and profit falls: that is what happens when the margin loses two points
26 September 2026, 09:53
According to Unioncamere, more than one business in four expects turnover to grow by at least 3 per cent in 2026, and among the businesses worried about their energy bills 43.4 per cent expect lower margins. Taken together, the two forecasts can mean more work and less profit: a company's strength is measured by its distance from the break-even point, not by its turnover.
The bank asks its customers for an extra confirmation. For €95 million, a WhatsApp was enough
25 September 2026, 18:14
The then chairman of Fideuram sent off €95 million after a message from a fake Carlo Messina and the cloned voice of a lawyer: €36 million is still missing. The same bank tells its customers to be wary of urgent requests.
The customer who pays after the due date is borrowing money from the supplier
25 September 2026, 08:13
In the second quarter of 2026 only 42 per cent of Italian companies paid their suppliers on time, and among large companies just over one in five. Every day of delay is money the supplier lends the customer: it can be measured customer by customer, and the law even puts a price on it.
In Italy electricity is paid for at the price of gas even when gas has nothing to do with it
24 September 2026, 22:14
Confcommercio: in Italy electricity costs almost €70 per megawatt-hour more than in France. The reason lies in how the price is set: every kilowatt-hour is paid for like the last one, and the last one, very often, comes from gas. In 2022 a law made producers hand back the difference. It has expired.
You can answer yes to all three of the Observatory's questions and still see EBITDA fall
24 September 2026, 08:41
UniCredit's survey of SMEs in southern Italy measures turnover, production and headcount, but not margin: EBITDA is the number that tells whether the business engine is working, and it can fall in the very year everything else rises.
To be let off, you must have collected the money you never collected
23 September 2026, 22:32
Bari, a curtain company: €539,956 of VAT declared and not paid, a six-month prison sentence upheld by the Court of Cassation in June. In 2024 a way out arrived for those left without money. It only applies to those who had collected the tax.
Before a plan, calculate where the company is heading if nobody does anything
23 September 2026, 08:06
The twelve-month extension of short-time working for a company in the Melfi supply chain helps explain what the five-year inertial projection is for: the scenario obtained by assuming that nobody takes any decision at all.
A small loan costs more than a large one: 4.37 against 3.55
22 September 2026, 18:06
The Bank of Italy says so every month and nobody reads it. Below a million you pay almost a point more. Meanwhile, money in the current account earns 0.69.
The diesel discount is paid for by the VAT on a full tank
22 September 2026, 16:06
The dearer the pump, the more VAT flows to the State. And that extra VAT comes back in the form of lower excise duty. It's called a discount.
The debate about bringing managers back is for companies that have one
22 September 2026, 08:09
Il Sole 24 Ore asks whether bringing back a leader who had left is a good idea. The question takes for granted something most SMEs simply do not have: a manager to bring back.
Lucas invented the category in which his museum will be judged
21 September 2026, 18:07
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art was born inside a category defined by its founder, and that makes any verdict impossible: the same thing happens in business every time a project is declared non-comparable.
The factory building is an investment. It should be judged like any other
21 September 2026, 14:12
Your money is tied up in the factory building, and almost always nobody has worked out what it earns. The right comparison is not mortgage payments against rent: it is what that capital would have earned if put to work in the business.
How much debt is too much? It is the wrong question, for a state as for a business
21 September 2026, 13:14
Rising yields, wide deficits, huge debts. The instinctive reaction is that there is too much debt, and it is the same mistaken reaction people have in front of a company's accounts: the stock tells you how much, not whether you can cope.
Your best deal may have been a terrible decision
21 September 2026, 13:00
Poker players and football analysts have stopped judging choices by their outcome. In business it still happens, and the cost is that the organisation learns the wrong lesson.
Money already spent has no place in the decision. And yet it decides almost everything
21 September 2026, 12:53
Britain and France knew Concorde would never pay back what it cost, and carried on regardless. The same sentence can be heard on every factory floor, in front of the line that has been losing money for three years.
High energy costs are a fact. That they are your problem remains to be proven
21 September 2026, 12:38
Confartigianato puts a number on the table, and it is right. But before deciding that energy is your problem you need another number, and it is in your own financial statements: how much energy weighs on the value of production.
If a digital investment doesn't show in your numbers, it didn't happen
21 September 2026, 12:36
The Economist asks how quickly investment in artificial intelligence turns into gains for everyone. The same question, three rungs further down, is whether that €40,000 of software shows up anywhere in your accounts.
Diesel can't be cut. Its share of turnover can.
21 September 2026, 09:07
The diesel price surge hitting hauliers says something that applies to everyone: a cost built into the service can't be cut, it is squeezed on its share of turnover, by working on price, on the quotation and on the contract. Meanwhile the tax credit improves profit long before it improves cash.
The incentive pays for the machine once. You pay for the people every year
21 September 2026, 08:04
Before using a subsidy to grow, it pays to calculate how far the minimum turnover that covers all costs rises, because the aid is a one-off while the costs it brings in stay.
Your top customer is worth 40% of turnover: the right question is not how much it buys
20 September 2026, 18:46
How to measure customer concentration by looking at margin rather than volume, and how to work out how many weeks of runway the cost structure leaves you if that customer stops ordering.
Profit cannot be paid into the bank
20 September 2026, 17:38
A company can close the year in profit and not have the money to pay its suppliers. It is not an accounting paradox: it is a matter of timing, and it can be measured before it happens.
How to (really) reorganise a company: case history no. 5
Training
In many industrial companies, volume grows… but margins don’t. Why?
How to (really) reorganise a company: case history no. 4
Training
“We do have a strategic direction. It just changes every two weeks.” It’s a real quip, made by a sales manager at an SME during an internal meeting.
How to manage generational handover in a family business
Training
We have often talked about control, method and strategy, but there is a moment in the life of every business that truly puts all of this to the test: the generational handover.
How to (really) reorganise a company: case history no. 3, part II
Training
After Vision, Mission and strategic KPIs, it was time to move from analysis to action: the levers, the business plan, the figures, the finance.
How to (really) reorganise a company: case history no. 3, part I
Training
Sustained growth can hide structural weaknesses and wipe out results, if the organisation does not keep pace.
Your stock is your bank. But without the IBAN
Training
In a business, what seems “normal” is often what locks up liquidity. And among all the invisible blockages, there is one that keeps making itself felt without saying a word: inventory.
How to (really) reorganise a company: case history no. 2
Training
A company that chose to put its house in order, and discovered that efficiency can be the key to competitiveness.
How to (really) reorganise a company: case history no. 1
Training
We are not talking about theory but about reality. About a real business, with real problems and a growth path built step by step, with method, vision and courage.
Why Fractional Management is the right solution for SMEs
Training
In our recent posts we have talked about controlling, organisation and synergy between skills.
The purchasing department does not just place orders
Training
In truly well-organised companies, the Purchasing Manager is not simply someone who carries out tasks but a strategic role.
“In our company we all do a bit of everything.”
Training
It’s one of the things we hear most often in SMEs, and it’s also one of the main reasons why many companies grow in a disorderly way, creating overlaps, decision-making conflicts and operational inefficiencies.
Overlapping roles in SMEs are a real problem
Training
In a company that builds mechanical plant to order, we found ourselves faced with the classic “indispensable” figure: the business owner’s right-hand man, a respected person, present everywhere, involved in everything.
Many companies think they have a good sales process
Training
But then they discover that orders are still managed with Excel files, scattered emails and manually entered information.
The companies that really grow are not the ones that work harder
Training
They are the ones that work best, because continuous improvement does not come from improvisation but from clear, shared and verifiable company procedures.
The real problem isn’t the work. It’s how it is organised
Training
Many companies are organised by function: production, administration, sales. Everything is divided, everything is assigned: it looks like organisation but, in reality, it is more often fragmentation.
Many business owners think they have everything under control
Training
In reality, they simply carry everything on their own shoulders, and this is where one of the biggest limits to SME growth arises: the inability to truly delegate.
When the company grows but the organisation stands still
Training
It happens more often than you might think. The business grows, the market responds, customers increase but, beneath the surface, something starts to creak.
Manufacturing businesses and controlling
Training
Let’s get to the heart of the more technical side of controlling: that of mechanical engineering companies.
“I don’t need a controller. I already have an accountant”
Training
That is what a business owner told us at our first meeting. His financial statements showed a profit and his turnover was good.
From controlling to control of the future
Training
Many business owners know all too well the feeling that something in the company is not heading in the right direction: the problem is that feelings are not enough and, often, the numbers are only looked at once the problem has already become an emergency.
Profit isn’t found. It’s built
Training
Many business owners “feel” how their company is doing, and they are often right, but there is a limit: gut feelings are not a management system.
The rolling forecast: a little-known but essential tool
Training
Preparing a budget is important, but stopping there is a mistake, because the budget has a structural limitation: it is static, built months in advance, on assumptions that can change quickly.
The budget is not a forecast. It is taking a stand
Training
The budget is one of the most underrated tools in SMEs: not because it is useless but because it is used the wrong way.
Without a budget, you are not running the business. You are reacting
Training
Once you understand how to build a price, where margin is generated and how to analyse it, you reach the highest level: deciding where you want to go.
Do you really want to understand where you make money? Then you need to change perspective
Training
Once you have started reading COGS and margins, the next level follows: understanding how income is generated.
You don't need cost accounting to understand where you are making money
Training
You need to start by asking yourself: “But what am I really making money on?” Many think that without an advanced cost accounting system it is impossible to answer, but that is not the case.
The problem isn’t the price. It’s how you build it
Training
Many companies are convinced they have a sales problem. “The market doesn't pay.” “Customers haggle over price.” “The competition is aggressive.”
Does the market decide the price? No. Your cost structure does
Training
Let’s continue our journey through informed business management.
Profitability by product line: what the financial statements don't tell you
Training
In previous posts we got to grips with the logic of the Break Even Point: now we’ll start to understand where the money is really made.
Cost analysis: the lens that separates real margins from illusions
Training
There is a truth that invariably emerges when you get into a company’s numbers: many decisions are made without really knowing what they cost.
From calculation to control: the real value of the Break Even Point
Training
Every business owner knows the concept of “breaking even” but hardly anyone really uses it as a strategic compass.
How to truly understand the break-even point: the power of reclassifying the financial statements
Training
Of all the tools a business owner can use to understand whether the company is really making money or just spinning its wheels, reclassifying the financial statements is one of the most underrated.
Digital complexity syndrome in SMEs
Training
For years the market has been pushing a seductive narrative: “digitalise everything and you will be more efficient, faster and more competitive”.
Data culture: the real hidden resource of SMEs
Training
In many SMEs the data exists but stays locked away in digital drawers: endless reports, Excel files everywhere, charts that nobody really looks at.
Controlling: the essential steps to avoid leaving your company to chance
Training
Many business owners believe they have everything under control until the numbers speak for themselves but, with the Italian Business Crisis Code, having clear tools to monitor and steer the company is no longer an option: it is a necessity.
The consulting that really matters: why tax advice is not enough
Training
Talking about method, numbers and control is important, but there is one aspect that deserves attention: the difference between those who manage the accounts and those who help the business grow.
Controlling does not mean “doing the accounts”
Training
And yet how many SMEs still confuse them? Many business owners believe that having up-to-date accounts or efficient management software is enough to know how the company is doing.
Controlling? In SMEs it is still an optional extra
Training
Controlling is not a luxury. It is a matter of survival, yet it is still seen as something “to do later”, when there is time, when the company is bigger.
Optimising cash flows: much more than “getting on with the bank”
Training
Financial statements and performance indicators help us understand the health of the company, but there is another aspect that separates those who react from those who anticipate: the management of cash flows.
When debt speaks: the indicator that reveals a business crisis
Training
In previous posts we learned how to read financial statements, but one fundamental issue remains to be addressed: knowing how to recognise the warning signs of a crisis.
The numbers that really matter: reading the financial statements to steer the business
Training
The balance sheet, the profit and loss account and the cash flow statement tell the story of the company: now it’s time to understand how to read them to make real decisions.
Why the cash flow statement is an essential tool
Training
The balance sheet and the profit and loss account say a great deal about a company.
Company financial statements explained in simple terms - Part II
Training
Having learnt how the Balance Sheet captures the structure of the business, it’s time to set that picture in motion.
Company financial statements explained (really) in simple terms – Part I
Training
Accounting helps us tell the story of the business through numbers: now it’s time to understand where all these numbers come together.
Financial accounting explained (really) in plain words
Training
Together we will set out on a structured journey to talk about controlling but, to do so, we first need to understand where the numbers come from, so that we can then interpret them.