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Board OntologyFinance

Net Income / Loss

The accounting bottom line for the period — EBITDA less depreciation & amortization and tax, plus the signed interest and FX lines. The final result of the income statement. Distinct from cash burn (an accrual figure, not a cash-flow measure). — Finance KPI, I'mBoard-authored (editorial tier).

I'mBoard-authored (editorial tier)

No public third-party standard anchors this KPI yet, so I'mBoard authors and maintains the definition — transparently labeled as editorial tier. See the ontology methodology for the published vs editorial tier system and the back-attribution workstream.

Rogue ID: finance.net_income Type: Currency Domain: Finance

Definition

The accounting bottom line for the period — EBITDA less depreciation & amortization and tax, plus the signed interest and FX lines. The final result of the income statement. Distinct from cash burn (an accrual figure, not a cash-flow measure).

Formula

net_income = ebitda − depreciation_amortization + interest_income_expense − tax + fx_gain_loss (interest and FX are signed inputs).

Why it matters

The statutory bottom line; read alongside burn/runway, since net income is accrual and does not equal cash consumed.

How to interpret

For startups, burn and runway usually matter more than net income — but a widening accrual loss is still a board signal. Reconcile to burn via the working-capital and non-cash lines.

  • finance.ebitda
  • finance.depreciation_amortization
  • finance.interest_income_expense
  • finance.tax
  • finance.fx_gain_loss
  • finance.net_burn_rate

Source

I'mBoard editorial — authored and maintained by I'mBoard, first published 2026-04-01. No third-party standard is cited for this KPI; when one emerges, the definition is back-attributed and promoted to the published tier (a minor version bump). Read the ontology methodology for the published vs editorial tier system, attribution rules, and dispute process.

Stage relevance

Company stagePriority
Series ARecommended
Series BRecommended
Series C+Recommended
PublicRecommended

Suggested for stages: Series A, Series B, Series C+, Public.

Default owning functions

  • Finance

Machine-readable

Net Burn Rate

Average monthly net cash outflow over the reporting period — total cash spent minus total cash collected, divided by the number of months in the period. The headline survival number for venture-backed startups: it pairs with `finance.total_cash_in_bank` to produce runway, and pairs with revenue growth to produce the Bessemer "burn multiple". Common pitfall: net burn is volatile — large quarterly bills (annual SaaS renewals, employer-tax true-ups), enterprise prepayments, and FX swings can mask the underlying trend. Smoothing over a trailing 3-month average is standard board practice. Equally important: do not silently include one-off cash events (acquisitions, settlements, large prepayments received) without flagging them — boards prefer a "core burn" and "headline burn" pair when the period is noisy. — Finance KPI, I'mBoard-authored (editorial tier).

Net Working Capital Adjustment

Signed net effect on cash of changes in current assets and current liabilities — receivables coming in (positive), payables going out (negative), prepaid expenses (negative when paid, positive when burned down), and accrued liabilities (positive when accrued, negative when settled). The rollup of `finance.current_asset_adjustments` and `finance.current_liability_adjustments`. Common pitfall: at early stage this is dominated by payroll-cycle noise and is near zero — once the company adds enterprise contracts with annual prepayments or 60-day net terms, this can swing 1–3 months of burn either direction. Becomes material at Series A+; ignored before that. — Finance KPI, I'mBoard-authored (editorial tier).

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