Numbers dressed up in fancy suits pretending to be words.
The glorious moment when investors collectively agreed your idea was worth actual money, or at least worth betting against their own judgment. The point where 'someday maybe' becomes 'oh god we actually have to build this.'
People you owe money to who possess a supernatural ability to remember the exact amount owed with devastating precision. They're technically patient but somehow expert at making debt feel like a personal betrayal.
A person or business so financially submerged that accountants gave up and lawyers got involved. The point where 'broke' becomes a court-acknowledged legal catastrophe requiring formal government intervention.
An asset you can't touch or see—patents, trademarks, copyrights, brand value. They're valuable but impossible to calculate precisely, which makes them accountants' favorite source of creative interpretation.
A change in an asset's recorded value to reflect what the market currently thinks it's worth. Sometimes this is realistic; sometimes it's a company admitting it made a terrible investment.
Converting a company's assets into actual cash because it turns out the business model was primarily composed of wishful thinking and spreadsheet optimism. The corporate fire sale that happens after the fire already burned everything down.
The difference between a company's book balance and actual bank balance due to checks written but not yet cleared. Temporary money that doesn't belong to you but you can use anyway.
Deliberately manipulating financial records to misrepresent a company's actual performance. Also known as 'creative accounting' when it's not quite criminal.
Trading ahead of client orders by using insider knowledge of pending transactions; highly illegal and incredibly profitable if caught slowly.
Long-term assets like buildings, equipment, and vehicles that aren't meant to be sold as part of normal operations. They're on the balance sheet for years and gradually depreciated as they slowly become worthless.
A measure of how much debt a company uses relative to its equity, showing financial risk. High leverage means lots of debt; low leverage means the company paid with its own money and didn't maximize returns.
The percentage of revenue remaining after expenses; gross margin (before OpEx), operating margin (after OpEx), and net margin (after everything). The more the better.
A manipulation scheme where fraudsters artificially inflate a stock's price (pump) then sell their shares (dump) to unsuspecting buyers. Profitable for liars.
An independent examination of financial statements to verify they're accurate and follow accounting standards. It's the financial equivalent of a teacher grading a student's homework—usually they find mistakes.
A daily allowance paid to employees for travel expenses, supposed to cover meals and incidentals. It's the company's way of saying 'eat cheap so we save money.'
When an asset's value drops permanently, you must write it down on the books. It's accounting's way of admitting you bought something that's now worthless, usually after several years of pretending it wasn't.
Cash in transit between accounts or between a company and its bank, where it technically belongs to neither for a brief period. The financial phenomenon accountants use to explain why the bank and the company's records disagree.
How many times a company sells and replaces its inventory during a period. High turnover is usually good (products sell fast), unless it's so high that you're constantly out of stock.
Unusual, infrequent events that significantly impact financial results—like selling off a division or natural disaster losses. Companies use this to claim profits look better than they actually are.
The accounting system where every transaction affects at least two accounts (a debit and a credit), ensuring the fundamental accounting equation always balances. It's elegant, logical, and has been fooling people for 600 years.
To send money (usually begrudgingly) to pay a debt or obligation. The financial equivalent of admitting defeat while simultaneously proving you're solvent.
An auditor's way of saying 'I checked this, and yeah, the numbers aren't obviously fraudulent' without actually guaranteeing anything—a middle ground between full financial audits and just hoping for the best. Lawyers and accountants love it because it's official-sounding but preserves plausible deniability.
The abbreviated laziness code for 'amount'—a term beloved by those too busy to type five extra letters. Commonly found in spreadsheets, invoices, and forms filled out by people who believe vowels are optional. Professional accountants pretend not to see it in formal documents.
Something you didn't plan to make but ended up with anyway—sometimes it's gold, sometimes it's waste. The unintentional gift your manufacturing process gives you while you're busy making something else.