Costs
Severance pay kept in the business is a debt, and with high inflation it costs more than a loan
14 November 2026, 08:17
With consumer prices rising fast again, the amount a business adds each year to what it owes its employees for severance pay is growing too. It is a debt with a rate set by the Civil Code, and in the profit and loss account it ends up among staff costs.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
How to (really) reorganise a company: case history no. 5
Training
In many industrial companies, volume grows… but margins don’t. Why?
Manufacturing businesses and controlling
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Let’s get to the heart of the more technical side of controlling: that of mechanical engineering companies.
Profit isn’t found. It’s built
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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.
Does the market decide the price? No. Your cost structure does
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Let’s continue our journey through informed business management.
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.
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.
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.
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.