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Glossary of Terms

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |

A
Above-the-Line	Relating to marketing expenditure on advertising in media such as press, radio, TV, cinema, & the web, on which a commission is usually paid to an agency.	Top
Accelerated Depreciation	A system used for computing the depreciation of some assets in a way that assumes that they depreciate faster in the early years of their acquisition.	Top
Account	A record of financial transactions.	Top
Accounting Cost	The cost of maintaining & checking the business records of a person or organization and the preparation of forms and reports for financial purposes.	Top
Accounting Insolvency	The condition that a company is in when its liabilities to its creditors exceeds its assets.	Top
Account Balance	The difference between the debit and the credit sides of an account.	Top
Accounting Period	A time interval at the end of which an analysis is made of the information contained in the bookkeeping records.	Top
Accounts Payable	Amounts owed by a business that are payable within one year.	Top
Accounting Rate of Return	The ratio of profit before interest and taxation to the percentage of capital employed at the end of a period.	Top
Accounts Receivable	Money owed to a business for goods and services the business has sold. These are listed in the current assets section of a balance sheet.	Top
Accrual Basis	A method of keeping accounts that show expenses incurred & income earned for a given fiscal period, even though such expenses & income have not been actually paid or received in cash.	Top
Administrative Expenses	Expenses chargeable to the managerial, general administrative and policy phases of a business in contrast to sales, manufacturing, or cost of goods expense.	Top
Amortization	A long-term expense calculated on a monthly or periodic basis.	Top
Annual Report	The yearly report made by a company at the close of the fiscal year, stating the company's receipts and disbursements, assets and liabilities.	Top
Appraisal	Evaluation of a specific piece of personal or real property. The value placed on the property evaluated.	Top
Appreciation	A rise in value of your business' goods or services.	Top
Arrears	Amounts past due and unpaid.	Top
Articles of Incorporation	A legal document filed with the state that sets forth the purposes and regulations for a corporation. Each state has different regulations.	Top
Assets	Everything a business owns. This includes cash, equipment, securities, accounts receivable, merchandise, as well as, intangible assets such as trademarks and patents.	Top
Audit	An examination of accounting documents and of supporting evidence for the purpose of reaching an informed opinion concerning their propriety.	Top

B
Bad Debts	Money owed to you that cannot be collected.	Top
Balance	The amount of money remaining in an account.	Top
Balanced Budget	A budget in which planned expenditure on goods and services and debt income can be met by current income from taxation and other central government receipts.	Top
Balance Sheet	A financial statement that shows what a business owns and what it owes at a certain date. Also called a statement of financial position.	Top
Banker's Draft	A bill of exchange payable on demand and drawn by one bank on another. Regarded as being equivalent to cash, the draft cannot be returned unpaid.	Top
Bank Guarantee	A commitment made by a bank to a foreign buyer that the bank will pay an exporter for goods shipped if the buyer defaults.	Top
Bank Statement	A monthly statement of account which a bank renders to each of its depositors.	Top
Bankruptcy	The condition of being unable to pay debts, with liabilities greater than assets.	Top
Benchmarking	Rating your company's products, services & practices against those of the front-runners in the industry.	Top
Bill of Entry	A statement of the nature and value of goods to be imported or exported, prepared by the shipper and presented to a customhouse.	Top
Bill of Lading	A statement of the nature & value of goods being transported, especially by ship, along with the conditions applying to their transportation. Drawn up by the carrier, this document serves as a contract between the owner of the goods and the carrier.	Top
Bill of Sale	Formal legal document that conveys title to or interest in specific property from the seller to the buyer.	Top
Bookkeeping	The process of recording business transactions into the accounting records. The "books" are the documents in which the records of transactions are kept.	Top
Book Value	The value of a business as presented by the excess of the total assets over the total liabilities. Factors such as depreciation will affect book value.	Top
Bottom Line	The figure that reflects the company profitability on the income statement. The bottom line is the profit after all expenses and taxes have been paid.	Top
Brand	A design, mark or symbol or other device that distinguishes one line or type of goods from those of a competitor.	Top
Breakeven	The point of business activity when total revenue equals total expense. Above the breakeven point, the business is make a profit. Below the breakeven point, the business is incurring a loss.	Top
Budget	An estimate of the income and expenditures for a future period of time, usually one year.	Top
Business Plan	A plan detailing the setting up, operation and direction your business will take. A business plan is a management tool used to focus on objectives as well as a resource when looking for financing.	Top
Business Venture	Taking financial risks in a commercial enterprise.	Top

C
Capital	Money available for investment. Amount of money owners have invested in their business.	Top
Capital Allowance	The tax advantage that a company is granted for money that it spends on fixed assets.	Top
Capital Appreciation	The increase in a company's or individual's wealth.	Top
Capital Asset	An asset that is difficult to sell quickly. For example, real estate.	Top
Capital Budget	A budget for the use of a company's money.	Top
Capital Controls	Regulations placed by the government on the amount of capital residents may hold.	Top
Capital Equipment	Equipment that you use to manufacture a product, provide a service or use to sell, store & deliver merchandise. Such as equipment will not be sold in the normal course of business, but will be used and worn out or consumed in the course of business.	Top
Capital Gains (& Losses)	The financial gain made upon the disposal of an asset. The gain is the difference between the cost of its acquisition and net proceeds upon its sale.	Top
Capital Goods	Stocks of physical or financial assets that are capable of generating income.	Top
Capital Inflow	The amount of capital that flows into an economy from services rendered abroad.	Top
Capitalism	An economic & social system in which individuals can maximize profits because they own the means of production.	Top
Capitalization	The amount of money invested in a company or worth of the bonds & stocks of a company.	Top
Cash Equivalents	Short term, temporary securities that can be quickly converted to cash.	Top
Cash Flow	The flow of cash in & out of a business. Positive cash flow means having enough cash to meet your operating needs & to pay your bills on time.	Top
Cash Receipts	The money received by a business from customers.	Top
Cash Reserve	Money set aside for unexpected or unbudgeted expenses. Usually the equivalent of 3 to 6 months net income.	Top
Certificate	A document representing partial ownership of a company that states the number of shares that the document is worth and the names of the company and the owner of the shares.	Top
Close-End Credit	A loan, plus any interest and finance charges, that is to be repaid in full by a specified future date. Loans that have real estate or motor vehicles as collateral are usually closed-end.	Top
Collateral	Property or goods used as security against a loan & forfeited to the lender if the borrower defaults.	Top
Commercial Paper	Uncollateralized loans obtained by companies, usually on a short-term basis.	Top
Commission	A percentage of the principal or of the income that an agent receives as compensation for services.	Top
Contract	A legally binding agreement between parties (individuals, businesses, governments, organizations, etc.) for goods and services at a specified price.	Top
Controllable Expenses	Those expenses that can be controlled or restrained by the business person.	Top
Corporation	A form of business organization having a legal entity independent of its owners. The corporation's owners (shareholders) have no liability for its debts.	Top
Cost of Goods Sold	The direct cost to the business owner of those items which will be sold to customers.	Top
Credit	Another word for debt. Credit is given to customers when they are allowed to make a purchase with the promise to pay later.	Top
Credit Line	The maximum amount of credit or money a financial institution or trade firm will extend.	Top
Current Assets	Assets a company can liquidate to cash within one year.	Top
Current Liabilities	Obligations a company has to others, payable within one year.	Top

D
Debit	A record of a sum owing.	Top
Debt	Money a business has borrowed and must replay, usually with interest.	Top
Debt Capital	The part of the investment capital that must be borrowed.	Top
Deficit	The excess of liabilities over assets; a negative net worth.	Top
Deficit Financing	The borrowing of money because expenditures will exceed receipts.	Top
Deficit Spending	Government spending financed by borrowing rather than taxation.	Top
Deflation	A reduction in the general level of prices sustained over several months, usually accompanied by declining employment and output.	Top
Depreciation	A decrease in value of an asset due to age or wear. Depreciation affect the book value of assets of a business. It is a non-cash expense.	Top
Devaluation	A reduction in the official fixed rate at which one currency exchanges for another under a fixed-rate regime, usually to correct a balance of payments deficits.	Top
Development Capital	Finance for the expansion of an established company.	Top
Direct Cost	Variable cost directly attributable to production. Items that are classed as direct cost include materials used, labor deployed, & marketing budget, & amounts spent will vary with output.	Top
Diversification	To expand your product line, services and/or your range of investments.	Top
Dividend	The portion of a company's profits paid to its stockholders. A stock selling for $20 a share with an annual dividend of $1 a share yields the investor 5%.	Top

E
Earnings	Income or profit from a business, quoted gross or net of tax, which may be retained and distributed in part to the shareholders.	Top
e-Business	The conduct of business on the internet, including the electronic purchasing and selling of goods and services, servicing customers, and communications with business partners.	Top
e-Commerce	The exchange of goods, information products, or services via an electronic medium such as the internet.	Top
Enterprise	A venture characterized by innovation, creativity, dynamism, and risk. An enterprise can consist of one project, or may refer to an entire organization.	Top
Equal Opportunities	The granting of equal rights, privileges, & status regardless of gender, age, race, religion, disability, or sexual orientation.	Top
Equity	The part of a business' assets owned by the stockholders. In other words, the money left over if a company sold all of its assets and paid off its liabilities.	Top
Equity Capital	Capital invested in a business.	Top
Exchange	The process by which 2 or more parties find something of value to one another to satisfy needs and wants.	Top
Expenses	The operating costs of a business.	Top
Exporting	The process of selling goods to other countries.	Top

F
Federal Funds	A deposit held in reserve by the Federal Reserve System.	Top
FIFO	First In First Out. A method of inventory control where the stock of a given product first placed in store is used before more recently produced or acquired goods or materials.	Top
Finance	The money needed by an individual or company to pay for something.	Top
Financial Statements	Documents that show your financial situation.	Top
Fiscal	Relating to financial matters, especially in respect to government collection, use and regulation or money through taxation.	Top
Fixed Assets	Property and equipment owned by a business and used for more than one year. These include anything businesses use to display, ship or store products.	Top
Fixed Expenses	Costs which don't vary from one accounting period to the next.	Top
Float	The period between the presentation of a check as payment & the actual payment to the payee.	Top
Floating Rate	An interest rate that is not fixed and which changes according to fluctuations in the market.	Top
Floor	The lower limit on a an interest rate, price, or the value of an asset.	Top
Forecast	A prediction of the value of a variable in a statistical study.	Top
Forward Pricing	The establishment of the price of a share in a mutual fund based on the next asset valuation.	Top
Forward Rate	An estimate of what an interest rate will be at a specified future time.	Top
Franchise	An agreement enabling a third-party to sell or provide products or services owned by a manufacturer or supplier. The franchise is regulated by a franchise contract, or franchise agreement, that specifies the terms and conditions of the franchise.	Top
Fraud	The use of dishonesty, deception, or false representation in order to gain a material advantage or to injure the interest of others.	Top
Free Enterprise	The trade carried on in a free-market economy, where resources are allocated on the basis of supply and demand.	Top
Free Market	A market in which supply and demand are unregulated except by the country's competition policy, and rights in physical and intellectual property are upheld.	Top
Fulfillment	The process of responding to customer inquiries, orders, or sales promotion offers.	Top
Futures Market	A market for buying & selling securities, commodities, or currencies that tend to fluctuate in price over a period of time. The market's aim is to reduce the risk of uncertainty about future prices.	Top

G
GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles)	A set of guidelines and rules for financial reporting. A company must follow these to prepare and present financial statements.	Top
GDP (Gross Domestic Product)	The total flow of services and goods produced by an economy over a quarter or a year, measured by the aggregate value of services and goods at market prices.	Top
Globalization	The process of tailoring products or services to different local markets around the world.	Top
Goodwill	An intangible asset of a business.	Top
GNP (Gross National Product)	GNP plus domestic resident's income from investment abroad less income earned in the domestic market accruing to non-citizens abroad.	Top
Gross Income	The total income of a company for a set period, before deductions and expenses.	Top
Growth Capital	Funding that allows a company to accelerate its growth. For new startup companies, growth capital is the second stage of funding after seed money.	Top
Growth Rate	The rate of an economy's growth as measured by its technical process, the growth of its labor, and the increase in its capital stock.	Top
Guarantee	A pledge by a third-party to repay a loan in the event that the borrower defaults.	Top
Guarantor	A person or organization that guarantees repayment of a loan if the borrower defaults or is unable to pay.	Top

H
Hedge Fund	A mutual fund that takes considerable risks, including heavy investment in unconventional instruments, in the hope of generating great profits.	Top
High-End	Relating to the most expensive, most advanced, or most powerful in a range of things, for example, computers.	Top
Holding Company	A parent organization that owns and controls other companies.	Top
Hyperinflation	Very rapid growth in the rate of inflation so that money loses value and physical goods replace currency as a medium of exchange.	Top

I
Impaired Capital	A company's capital that is worth less than the par value of its stock.	Top
Import	A product or service brought into another country from its country of origin either for sale of for use in manufacturing.	Top
Income Redistribution	A government policy that seeks to restrain increases in wages or prices by regulating the permitted level of increase.	Top
Income Statement	A financial document that shows how much money (revenue) came in and how much money (expense) was paid out.	Top
Income Tax	A tax levied directly on the income of a person or a company and paid to the local, state, or federal government.	Top
Indirect Channel	The selling and distribution of products to customers through intermediaries such as wholesalers, distributors, agents, dealers, or retailers.	Top
Indirect Cost	A fixed or overhead cost that cannot be attributed direct to the production of a particular item and is incurred even when there is no output.	Top
Inflation	A sustained increase in a country's general level of prices that devalues its currency, often caused by excess demand in the economy.	Top
Insolvency	The inability to pay debts when they become due. Insolvency will apply even when total assets exceed total liabilities, if those assets cannot be readily converted into cash to meet debts as they mature.	Top
Interest	The rate that a lender charges for the use of money that is a loan.	Top
Interest Rate	The amount of interest charged for borrowing a particular sum of money over a specified period of time.	Top
Inventory	Raw materials, items available for sale or in the process of being made ready for sale.	Top
Invest	To lay out money for any purpose from which a profit is expected.	Top
Investment	The spending money on stocks, shares, & other securities, or on assets such as plant & machinery.	Top
Invisible Exports	The profits, dividends, interest, & royalties received from selling a country's services abroad.	Top
Invoice	A document that a supplier sends to a customer detailing the cost of products or services supplied and requesting payment.	Top

J
Joint Account	An account, for example, one held at a bank or by a broker, that two or more people own in common and have access to.	Top
Joint Ownership	Ownership by more than one party, each with equal rights in the item owned. Joint ownership is often applied to property or other assets.	Top
Junk Bond	A bond with high return and high risk.	Top

K
Keystone	Setting a retail price at twice the wholesale price.	Top

L
Labor Force	People of working age who are available for paid employment, including the unemployed looking for work, but excluding categories such as full-time students, care-givers, and the long-term sick and disabled.	Top
Lapse	The termination of an option without trade in the underlying security or commodity.	Top
Law of Diminishing Returns	A rule stating that as one factor of production is increased while others remain constant, the extra output generated by the additional input will eventually fall. The law of diminishing returns therefore means that extra workers, extra capital, extra machinery, or extra land may not necessarily raise output as much as expected.	Top
Letter of Agreement	A document that constitutes a simple form of contract.	Top
Letter of Credit	A letter issued by a bank that can be presented to another bank to authorize the issue of credit or money.	Top
Leverage	The ratio by which debt exceeds equity. The use of debt instead of equity to support assets and growth.	Top
Liability	A debt that has no claim on a debtor's assets or less claim than another debt.	Top
Liability Insurance	Risk protection for actions for which a business is liable.	Top
License	A contractual arrangement, or a document representing this, in which one organization gives another the rights to produce, sell, or use something in return for payment.	Top
Lien	A legal claim over an asset.	Top
Limited Partnership	Type of business where owners assume responsibility for only up to the amount they invested.	Top
Line of Credit	Money lent at interest. Discretionary money lent by a bank for operating expenses.	Top
Liquidate	Convert an asset to cash or settle a debt.	Top
Loan Agreement	A document that states what a business can & cannot do as long as it owes money to the lender.	Top
Loan	Money lent with interest.	Top
Long-Term Liabilities	The liabilities (expenses) that will not mature within the next year.	Top

M
Market	A set of potential or real buyers or a place in which there is a demand for products or services. Actual or potential buyers of a product or service.	Top
Market Demand	Total volume purchased in a specific geographic area by a specific customer group in a specified time period under a specified marketing program.	Top
Market Forecast	An anticipated demand that results from a planned marketing expenditure.	Top
Market Share	A company's percentage share of total sales within a given market.	Top
Market Value	The value of something in the market-place, determined by an agreement between two disinterested parties.	Top
Micro-Business	An owner-operated business with few employees and less than $250,000 in annual sales.	Top
Money Markets	Part of stock markets in which short term financial obligations are bought and sold. These include treasury bills and other federal government debts of up to three years.	Top
Multi-Level Sales	Also known as network marketing. Rather than hiring sales staff, multi-level sales companies sell their products through thousands of independent distributors. Multi-level sales companies offer distributors commissions on both retail sales and the sales of their "down-line" (the network of other distributors they sponsor).	Top

N
NASDAQ	National Association of Security Dealers Automated Quotation system, a screen-based quotation system supporting market making in registered equities.	Top
Net Assets	The amount by which the value of a company's assets exceeds its liabilities.	Top
Net Capital	The amount by which assets exceed the value of assets not easily converted to cash.	Top
Net Cash Balance	The amount of cash that is on hand.	Top
Net Earnings	The total earnings of a company for a set period, minus deductions and expenses. Also called net profit or net income.	Top
Net Errors and Omissions	The net amount of the discrepancies that arise in calculations of balances of payments.	Top
Net Fixed Assets	The value of fixed assets after depreciation.	Top
Net Margin	The percentage of revenue that is profit.	Top
Net Operating Income	The amount by which income exceeds expenses, before considering taxes and interest.	Top
Net Proceeds	The amount realized from a transaction minus the cost of making it.	Top
Net Sales	The total sales of a company minus the cost of the sales and operating expenses.	Top
Net Worth	The total value of a business in financial terms. Net worth is calculated by subtracting total liabilities from total assets.	Top
No-Load Fund	A mutual fund that does not change a fee for purchase or sale of shares.	Top
Non-Disclosure Agreement	A legally enforceable agreement preventing present or past employees from disclosing commercially sensitive information belonging to the employer to any other party.	Top
Note	A document that is recognized as legal evidence of a debt.	Top

O
Open-End Credit	A form of credit that does not have an upper limit on the amount that can be borrowed or a time limit before repayment is due.	Top
Operating Cash Flow	The amount used to represent the money moving through a company as a result of its operations, as distinct from its purely financial transactions.	Top
Operating Costs	Expenditures arising out of current business activities. The costs incurred to do business such as salaries, electricity, rental. Also may be called "overhead".	Top
Operating Income	The net sales of a company minus the cost of the sales and operating expenses.	Top
Operating Loans	A loan to assist in coverage of current business expenses.	Top
Optimize	To allocate such things as resources or capital as efficiently as possible.	Top
Option	A contract for the right to buy or sell an asset, typically a commodity, under certain terms.	Top
Outsourcing	Term used in business to identify the process of sub-contracting work to outside vendors. The transfer of the provision of services previously carried out by in-house personnel to an external organization, usually under a contract with agreed standards, costs, and conditions.	Top
Overdraft	The amount by which the money withdrawn from a bank account exceeds the balance of the account.	Top
Overdraft Facility	A credit arrangement with a bank, allowing a person or company with an account to use borrowed money up to an agreed limit when nothing is left in the account.	Top
Overdrawn	In debt to a bank because the amount withdrawn from an account exceeds its balance.	Top
Overhead	A general term for costs of materials and services not directly adding to or readily identifiable with the product or service being sold.	Top

P
Partnership	A business entity of 2 or more people who share the responsibilities, profits and liabilities of that entity.	Top
Patent	A type of copyright granted as a fixed-term monopoly to an inventor by the state to prevent others copying an invention, or improvement of a product or process.	Top
Payable	Ready to be paid. One of the standard accounts kept by a bookkeeper is "accounts payable." This is a list of those bills that are current and due to be paid.	Top
Petty Cash	A small store of cash used for minor business expenses.	Top
Point-of-Purchase	The place at which a product is purchased by the customer. The point-of-sale can be a retail outlet, a display case, or even a legal business relationship of two or more people who share responsibilities, resources, profits and liabilities.	Top
Pre-Billing	The practice of submitting a bill for a product or service before it has actually been delivered.	Top
Preferred Shares	Preferred shares give investors a fixed dividend from the company's earnings. Preferred shareholders get paid before common shareholders.	Top
Prepaid Expenses	Expenditures that are paid in advance for items not yet received.	Top
Prepaid Interest	Interest paid in advance of its due date.	Top
Prepayment Penalty	A charge that may be levied against somebody who makes a payment before its due date. The penalty compensates the lender or seller for potential lost interest.	Top
Price	The exchange value of a product or service from the perspective of both the buyer & seller.	Top
Price Ceiling	The highest amount a customer will pay for a product or a service based on both the buyer and the seller.	Top
Price Control	Government regulations that set maximum prices for commodities or control price levels by credit controls.	Top
Price Discrimination	The practice of selling of the same product to different buyers at different prices.	Top
Price Floor	The lowest amount a business owner can charge for a product or service and still meet all expenses.	Top
Price Planning	The systematic process for establishing pricing objectives and policies.	Top
Principal	A capital sum placed at interest, due as debt.	Top
Product	Anything capable of satisfying needs, including tangible items, services and ideas.	Top
Product Life Cycle (PLC)	The stages of development and decline through which a successful product typically moves.	Top
Product Line	A group of products related to each other by marketing, technical or end-use considerations.	Top
Product Mix	All of the products in a seller's total product line.	Top
Profit & Loss Statement	A list detailing the total amount of revenue and total liabilities for a set period of time. The difference between the two is either profit or loss.	Top
Profit	Financial gain, returns over expenditures.	Top
Profit Margin	The difference between the price you charge for goods or services and the costs to produce these goods and services.	Top
Pro-Forma	A projection or estimate in what may result in the future from actions in the present. A pro-forma financial statement is one that shows how the actual operations of the business will turn out if certain assumptions are achieved; a document issued before all relevant details are known, usually followed by a final version.	Top
Pro-Forma Invoice	An invoice that does not include all the details of a transaction, often sent before goods are supplied and followed by a final detailed invoice.	Top
Promotion	The communication of information by a seller to influence the attitudes and behavior of potential buyers.	Top
Promotional Pricing	Temporarily pricing a product or service below list price or below cost in order to attract customers.	Top

Q
Quality	All the features and characteristics of a product or service that affect its ability to meet stated or implied needs.	Top

R
Rate of Interest	A percentage charged on a loan or paid on an investment for the use of the money.	Top
Rate of Return	An accounting ratio of the income from investment to the amount of investment, used to measure financial performance.	Top
Receivables	Money owed to a business during the current year for goods & services the business has sold.	Top
Recession	A stage of the business cycle in which economic activity is in slow decline. Recession usually follows a boom, and precedes a depression. It is characterized by rising unemployment and falling levels of output and investment.	Top
Recurring Payments	An electronic payment facility that permits a merchant to process multiple authorizations by the same customer either as multiple payments for a fixed amount or recurring billings for varying amounts.	Top
Redemption	The purchase by a company of its own shares from shareholders.	Top
Refinance	To replace one loan with another, especially at a lower rate of interest.	Top
Refund	The reimbursement of the purchase price of a good or service, for reasons such as faults in manufacturing or dissatisfaction with the service provided.	Top
Reinsurance	A method of reducing risk by transferring all or part of an insurance policy to another insurer.	Top
Retail	Selling directly to the consumer.	Top
Revenue	The total income of a business.	Top
Revolving Fund	A fund the resources of which are replenished from the revenue of the projects that it finances.	Top

S
Sales	The activity of selling a company's products or services, the income generated by this, or the department that deals with selling.	Top
Sales Channel	A means of distributing products to the marketplace, either directly to the end consumer, or indirectly through intermediaries such as retailers or dealers.	Top
Sales Forecast	A prediction of future sales, based on past sales performance. Sales forecasting takes into account the economic climate, current sales trends, company capacity for production, company policy, and market research.	Top
Sales Network	The distribution network by which goods and services are sold.	Top
Sales Promotion	Activities, usually short-term, designed to attract attention to a particular product and to increase its sales using advertising and publicity.	Top
Sales Quota	A target set for the sales force stating the number and range of products or services that should be sold.	Top
Security	Collateral that is promised to a lender as protection in case the borrower defaults on the loan.	Top
Seed Money	A usually modest amount of money used to convert an idea into a viable business.	Top
Self-Liquidating	Providing enough income to pay off the amount borrowed for financing.	Top
Service Charge	A gratuity usually paid in restaurants and hotels; a fee for any service provided, or additional fee for any enhancements to an existing service.	Top
Settlement	The payment of a debt or charge.	Top
Setup Costs	The costs associated with making a workstation or equipment available for use.	Top
Shares	Certificates or book entries representing ownership in a corporation or similar entity.	Top
Short-Term Notes	Loans that come due in one year or less.	Top
Sole Proprietorship	Business legal structure in which one individual owns the business.	Top
Stock	Stock represents the ownership of a portion of a corporation's assets and earnings.	Top
Stockholder	A person who owns stock in a business; also called a shareholder.	Top
Suppliers	Individuals or businesses that provide resources needed by a company in order to produce goods and services.	Top

T
Tangible Assets	Usually refers to something which can be seen and evaluated such as property.	Top
Tax	A government charge that is no a price for a good or service.	Top
Taxable	Subject to tax.	Top
Tax Bracket	A range of income levels subject to marginal tax at the same rate.	Top
Tax Incentive	A tax reduction afforded to people for particular purposes, for example, sending their children to college.	Top
Tax Refund	An amount that the government gives back to a taxpayer who has paid more taxes that were due.	Top
Tax Return	An official form on which a company or individual enters details of income and expenses, used to assess tax liability.	Top
Tax Shelter	A financial arrangement designed to reduce tax liability.	Top
Tax Subsidy	A tax reduction that the government gives a business for a particular purpose, usually to create jobs.	Top
Tender	To make or submit a bid to undertake work or supply of goods at a stated price. A tender is usually submitted in response to an invitation to bid for a work contract in competition with other suppliers.	Top
Terms of Sale	The conditions concerning payments for a purchase.	Top
Terms of Trade	A ratio to determine whether the conditions under which a country conducts its trade are favorable or unfavorable.	Top
Trade Credit	Permission to buy from suppliers on an open account.	Top
Trademark	An identifiable mark on a product that may be a symbol, words, or both, that connects the product to the trader or producer of that product.	Top

U
Unbalanced Growth	The result when not all sectors of an economy can grow at the same rate.	Top
Unbundling	Dividing a company into separate constituent companies, often to sell all or some of them after a takeover.	Top
Unit of Trade	The smallest amount that can be bought or sold of a share of stock, or a contract included in an option.	Top
Unlimited Liability	Full responsibility for the obligations of a general partnership.	Top
Unsecured Debt	Money borrowed without supplying collateral.	Top
Used Credit	The portion of a line of credit that is no longer available.	Top

V
Value Added	Originally, the difference between the cost of bought-in materials and the eventual selling price of the finished product.	Top
Value-Added Tax	A tax added at each stage in the manufacture of a product. It acts as a replacement for a sales tax in almost every industrialized country outside North America.	Top
Variable	An element of data whose changes are the object of a statistical study.	Top
Variable Annuity	An annuity whose payment depends either on the success of investments that underlie it, or on the value of the index.	Top
Variable Cost	A cost of production that is directly proportional to the number of units produced.	Top
Variable Interest Rate	An interest rate that changes, usually in relation to a standard index, during the period of a loan.	Top
Variance	The square of a standard deviation; a measure of the difference between actual performance and forecast, or standard, performance.	Top
Venture Capital	Monies used to finance new companies or projects, especially those with high earning potential and high risk.	Top
Vision Statement	A statement giving a broad, aspirational image of the future that an organization is aiming to achieve.	Top
Volume	An amount or quantity of business; the volume of a business is the total it sells over a period of time.	Top

W
Wages	A form of pay given to employees in exchange for the work they have done.	Top
Weighted Average	An average of quantities that have been adjusted by the addition of a statistical value to allow for their relative importance in a data set.	Top
Wholesale Price	A price charged to customers who buy large quantities of an item for resale in smaller quantities to others.	Top
Wholesaling	Businesses and individuals engaged in the activity of selling products to retailers, organizational users or other wholesalers. Selling for resale.	Top
Withholding Tax	The money an employer pays directly to the U.S. government as a payment of the income tax on the employee.	Top
Working Capital	The excess of current assets over liabilities. The cash needed to keep the business running from day to day.	Top

Y
Year-End	Relating to the end of a financial or fiscal (tax) year.	Top
Yield	A percentage of the amount invested that is the annual income from an investment.	Top

Z
Zero-Balanced Account	A bank account that does not hold funds continuously, but has money automatically transferred into it from another account when claims arise against it.	Top
Zero-Fund	To assign no money to a business project without actually canceling it.	Top