Above Water

A boat. That's how to think of this one. If the water level is a "fair accounting" assessment of the book value of your company, then if you are above water, you are the boat. That is, something happened at your corp digs. Maybe you found oil under the drone-testing acreage you own, and all of a sudden, the asset you have valued at a hundred grand is now worth millions. Your asset is now above water from an accounting perspective, and you have to re-evaluate the values at which you are holding "property, plant and equipment," or whatever you call that line.

Above Water also means that you're doin' just fine, i.e. think about the angry substitute teacher yelling at the class "I've had it up to here!" and she makes the hand sign above her head like she's drowning in bad behavior. Yeah, you know who we're talkin' about. She's below water in her tolerance...and financially, the analog is a company drowning in expenses which are much higher than revenues...and the end of the world is likely not far off if fast adjustments aren't taken.