The number nouz shows in the today tile is your EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) for the day. It's the most honest one-number answer to "did today pay?", and understanding how it's computed makes every other screen in nouz read more clearly.
01 The formula
There's exactly one formula for today's number, and it lives in lib/calculations.ts:
Gross revenue − Tax − Transaction fees = Net revenue
Net revenue − COGS − Variable costs − Fixed cost allocation = EBIT
Two steps. The first gets you to net revenue (what's left after the till receipts go through VAT and your acquirer). The second gets you to EBIT (what's left after you pay for the goods you sold and your daily slice of the rent). Every number on the Home tab and the P&L tab is derived from these six subtractions.
02 A worked example
Say a small café took €840 on a Tuesday — €240 cash, €600 card. VAT is 20%. The card fee is 2.0%. COGS for the day was €252. There were €40 of small variable costs (oat milk, gloves). Fixed costs run €10,520 / month — a daily slice of €345.66.
Same gross revenue, three subtractions to net, three more to EBIT.
Notice how much disappears between €840 and €22,34. Most of that isn't waste — it's real costs that any business has to pay. The exercise here is just to make those costs visible, day by day, so they can't hide in a monthly average.
03 Why it's not your till total
Your till total is gross revenue — the top of the chart. That number feels good (€840!) but it's not what stays with you. Tax goes to the government. Fees go to your acquirer. The cost of what you sold goes back into next week's supply order. And your share of the rent is due whether anyone walked through the door or not.
Today's EBIT is what's genuinely left after all of that. €22,34 isn't exciting — but it's honest. That's what nouz is for.
04 EBIT isn't cash flow either
This is the second most common day-one confusion (after "negative EBIT means I lost money today"). EBIT is an accounting concept — it measures whether the day was profitable in economic terms. Your actual bank balance moves at different timing: cash sales settle same-day, card sales settle T+1 or T+2, COGS payments depend on supplier terms, rent goes out on the first of the month.
If you want to track cash specifically (when money actually arrives and leaves), that's a different exercise — closer to bookkeeping. nouz is built for "did today pay economically?", which is the more useful daily question for owner-operators.
05 Why this is the right number
You could compute "today's profit" a hundred ways. Gross is too optimistic (ignores costs). Net revenue is closer but ignores COGS and operating cost. Pure cash flow is too noisy day-to-day because of payment timing. EBIT lands in the middle: it captures all the real costs of running today, normalised for the timing of when they hit your bank.
It's also the number your accountant uses for the same purpose — though they compute it differently (accrual basis, depreciation, etc.) so the totals won't match exactly. See Why your nouz P&L won't match your accountant's for the divergence.
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