diskontiert

Diskontiert is a German term used in finance to describe a financial instrument or amount that has undergone discounting. It derives from the verb diskontieren, meaning to discount or to purchase a debt instrument before its maturity at a price below its nominal value. In general, something diskontiert has been adjusted to reflect the time value of money.

In banking practice, diskontieren commonly refers to the discounting of bills of exchange or other promissory notes. A bank that diskontiert such an instrument pays the holder the face value minus a discount, effectively earning interest for the period until maturity. The discount rate used in this context is often called the Diskontsatz or simply the discount.

In the broader field of present-value valuation, cash flows are discounted to their present value using a discount rate. When these cash flows are described as diskontiert, their value reflects the aggregation of future payments back to today, accounting for risk and opportunity cost. This usage is common in corporate finance, asset valuation, and capital budgeting.

It is important to distinguish diskontieren from related terms. Skonto is a cash discount offered to a buyer for prompt payment and is distinct from the bank discounting of notes. Diskontiert can also appear in more general discussions of price adjustments, but in technical contexts it most often refers to the present-value adjustment or the discounting of a debt instrument.