mifinance.xyzBreak-even · Worked
About

An independent break-even reference, reviewed by a working CPA.

mifinance.xyz publishes a single calculator with one job: take fixed costs, variable cost per unit, and price per unit, and return break-even units, target-profit volume, and margin of safety. Reviewed by an Ohio CPA who mentors small-business owners through SCORE.

Why this site exists

Most small-business owners can recite their monthly rent, payroll, and inventory cost. Far fewer can answer the question those numbers actually pose: at what unit volume does the business break even? The contribution-margin math is straightforward but not obvious; mistakes in categorising fixed vs. variable costs are common and consequential. mifinance.xyz turns three input figures into the unit-volume target every operator needs to know.

Editorial principles

  • Standard contribution-margin model. Same model taught in introductory managerial accounting and applied in every SCORE workshop.
  • Conservative defaults. The illustrative example (coffee shop, $12k fixed, $18 unit price) is realistic for the segment most readers actually run.
  • Named accountability. Marcus Holloway, CPA, is the responsible reviewer. His Ohio CPA license is verifiable through the Ohio Accountancy Board public registry.
  • No commercial relationships. The site does not earn referral fees from any accounting software, business-financing service, or insurance product.
  • Privacy by architecture. Cost, price, and volume figures stay in your browser.

The team

mifinance.xyz operates as a one-person editorial project alongside Marcus's CPA practice and his SCORE volunteer commitments. Marcus reviews every release of the calculator and every page of reference content before publication. He holds final editorial authority and is the named accountable person for every figure on the site.

A part-time content editor based in Cincinnati copy-edits long-form pages and tracks updates to the AICPA managerial-accounting guidance. The editor is named in the public changelog only when their input has produced a substantive change.

Verification methodology

  1. Math. Verified by inspection against the standard contribution-margin formulas in the AICPA Managerial Accounting Body of Knowledge.
  2. Reference cases. Six worked examples across coffee shop, freelance consultant, e-commerce, SaaS, restaurant, and small manufacturer. Each verified pen-and-paper.
  3. Edge-case coverage. Zero or negative contribution margin returns “never” rather than a misleading large number. Margin of safety reports “below B/E” for businesses currently below break-even.
  4. Currency rendering. Five supported currencies via Intl.NumberFormat('en-US').

What this site is not

  • Not regulated tax or accounting advice. Marcus's CPA practice provides regulated services to engaged clients. The site itself is editorial; for specific business-tax decisions, retain a qualified CPA.
  • Not a financial-modelling platform. Multi-product break-even, mixed-margin scenarios, and time-series projections require dedicated software (Excel templates, QuickBooks projections, LivePlan).
  • Not a business-plan generator. The break-even number is one input to a business plan; not the whole plan.
  • Not aware of step-fixed costs. Some costs jump at volume thresholds (a second hire when volume doubles, additional rent for a second location). The calculator assumes linear fixed costs.

Get in touch

Calculation queries, content corrections, and partnership enquiries are all handled through the contact page. We commit to acknowledging every well-formed message within 24 business hours.