Numbers dressed up in fancy suits pretending to be words.
Buying something cheap in one place and selling it for more in another, which sounds like a genius strategy until you realize it's basically what your cousin does with concert tickets. Wall Street just gave it a fancier name and added decimal points.
When two companies combine to become one larger, more dysfunctional company with twice the middle management. It's always sold as a "merger of equals" and always ends with one side updating their resumes within six months.
A period when stock prices are rising and everyone suddenly becomes a financial genius, including your Uber driver. It's named after bulls because everyone charges in head-first without thinking, and the ending usually involves someone getting gored.
Outstanding customer invoices categorized by how long they've been unpaid, typically in 30-day buckets. The older they get, the more they resemble wine—except instead of improving with age, they become increasingly worthless.
The gradual increase in value of a bond as it approaches maturity, or the increase in earnings per share following an acquisition. Basically, when numbers get bigger and finance people get to feel smart about predicting it.
A report categorizing accounts receivable by how long they've been outstanding, typically in 30-day buckets. It's a snapshot of who owes you money and which customers are slow payers or potential deadbeats.
The master accounting record containing all financial transactions, organized by account. It's the single source of truth for a company's finances, assuming someone entered everything correctly.
The bureaucratic art of dividing limited resources among unlimited demands, usually resulting in everyone being equally unhappy. Whether it's budget allocations, resource allocations, or asset allocations, it's about deciding who gets what slice of the pie—and then defending those decisions in seventeen different meetings. Spoiler alert: there's never enough pie.
The professional practice of accounting, elevated to sound more prestigious—because 'accountant' apparently needed fancier branding. It encompasses the entire field of financial reporting, auditing, tax preparation, and making sure companies follow arcane rules that change annually. The British prefer this term, Americans less so, but everyone agrees it involves lots of coffee and spreadsheets.
The total return anticipated on a bond if held until it matures, accounting for current price, par value, coupon interest, and time to maturity. It's what you'll earn assuming the issuer doesn't default, which is a bigger assumption than bond investors like to admit.
Anything of value that accountants get to play with on a balance sheet, from office furniture to that sketchy intern who somehow speaks fluent Mandarin. In finance, it's what you own that's theoretically worth something—until the market decides otherwise. Can also refer to a spy, because espionage and spreadsheets both involve secrets.
Pertaining to local city government, or a bond issued by said government that lets you bet on whether a town can pay its debts. Municipal bonds are beloved by tax-averse investors who trust city councils more than they probably should. It's the financial equivalent of believing your local DMV will process your paperwork efficiently.
The practice of making financial statements look prettier than reality through perfectly legal but ethically questionable timing of transactions. It's like cleaning your apartment only when you know someone's coming over.
Additional information buried in the tiny print at the end of financial statements, where companies hide things they're legally required to disclose but hope nobody reads. It's where the interesting stuff actually lives.
Information barriers within financial institutions designed to prevent conflicts of interest, like keeping the investment banking side from sharing insider information with the trading desk. Also increasingly called 'ethical walls' because geography.
A fancy legal term for embezzlement that makes stealing company funds sound almost scholarly. It's the misappropriation of money held in trust or fiduciary capacity, often discovered when the auditors start asking uncomfortable questions.
A contra-asset account estimating receivables that customers will never pay, because optimism doesn't belong on a balance sheet. It's acknowledging reality before reality forces you to.
Either the total sales a company racks up in a period, or the depressing rate at which employees flee for greener pastures—context is everything. In finance, high turnover is great; in HR, it's a red flag the size of a building. It can also refer to how quickly inventory or assets get cycled through, because apparently one word needs to do the work of five.
The magical moment when an investment stops being a money pit and actually returns something positive, also known as ROI's less sophisticated cousin. In finance, it's the break-even point where you finally stop losing money; in life, it's revenge served cold. Either way, someone's getting their due.
In finance and accounting, a formal document summarizing financial transactions, positions, or activity over a specific period. Whether it's your bank statement showing where your paycheck disappeared to or a company's financial statement proving they're actually profitable, it's numbers arranged to tell a story. Reading these carefully is the difference between financial awareness and unpleasant surprises.
A company's book value after stripping out intangible assets like goodwill and patents—basically what's left if you only count things you can drop on your foot. It's the pessimist's version of book value that assumes intangibles are worthless.
A simplified cost accounting system that records costs only when production is complete, skipping the tedious tracking of work-in-process. It's for manufacturers who prefer speed over precision and assume everything flows smoothly.
The timeline over which stock options or retirement benefits become owned by the employee, ensuring they can't grab equity and immediately quit. It's the corporate version of 'you have to stay for dessert if you want dessert.'
Short for cryptocurrency, the digital money that exists entirely in the cloud and whose value fluctuates more wildly than your mood on a Monday morning. It's either the future of finance or the world's most elaborate Ponzi scheme, depending on whether you bought Bitcoin at $100 or $60,000. Also refers to cryptography, the actual useful technology that crypto enthusiasts sometimes remember exists.