Numbers dressed up in fancy suits pretending to be words.
In accounting, the money your company owes but hasn't paid yet—basically corporate IOUs sitting on the balance sheet like financial landmines. Also known as "accounts payable," these are the bills that make CFOs wake up in cold sweats. The bigger this number gets, the more creative the excuses to vendors become.
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.
A journal entry made at the corporate level above the normal operational accounting system, often used for adjustments or consolidation. It's headquarters overriding local books, sometimes legitimately, sometimes suspiciously.
Crypto-bro battle cry meaning 'Divine Anarchy Gonna Make It,' the hopium-infused mantra chanted when an NFT project's floor price goes up. It's the digital asset equivalent of manifesting abundance, except with more blockchain and fewer vision boards.
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.
Assets you can't drop on your foot but can definitely put on a balance sheet—think patents, trademarks, goodwill, and brand value. These incorporeal treasures represent value that exists purely in the realm of ideas, agreements, and legal rights. Accountants love arguing about how to value them since you can't exactly take them to a pawn shop.
A comprehensive listing of all accounts in an organization's general ledger, organized into categories like assets, liabilities, and expenses. It's the financial filing system that makes sense to exactly one person: whoever designed it.
The practice of comparing actual financial results to budgeted or forecasted amounts and investigating the differences. It's how management discovers that 'unforeseen circumstances' is code for 'we completely missed our projections.'
The exhaustion of a resource faster than it can naturally replenish itself, whether that's oil reserves, soil nutrients, or your marketing budget by mid-quarter. In accounting, it's the method for allocating the cost of extracting natural resources. Basically, fancy terminology for "we used it all up."
The financial maneuver of moving retirement funds from one account to another without triggering tax penalties, or in web design, that satisfying hover effect that proves a button is actually clickable. In finance, it's how you avoid giving Uncle Sam a premature cut of your 401(k). The term doing double duty in completely unrelated industries, because why make jargon simple?
In finance, a security that's having an identity crisis—it starts as one thing (usually a bond) but can transform into something else (usually stock) like a financial Transformer. Investors love them because they get the safety of debt with the upside potential of equity. It's also a car with a roof that comes off, but that's significantly less exciting to accountants.
The financial practice of moving money from one investment or retirement account to another without triggering tax consequences, because the IRS is generous like that. Also describes what happens to your old web design when you hover over a button, or what vehicles do in unfortunate accidents. In tech, it's that fancy effect where images change when your cursor touches them, making websites feel interactive since 1995.
The practice of selling investments at a loss to offset capital gains and reduce tax liability, then often buying similar assets to maintain market exposure. It's using the tax code's lemons to make lemonade.
Government money injected into the economy during crises, based on the economic theory that the best way to fix problems is to print cash and hope for the best. It's designed to stimulate spending and growth, though recipients often prefer to save it or pay down debt, completely missing the point. Politicians love stimulus packages because they get to look generous with other people's money while economists argue about whether it actually works.
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.
French for 'slice,' because everything sounds fancier in French, especially when you're dividing up debt into pieces. In finance, it's a portion of a larger pool of securities, bonds, or loans, each with different risk levels and maturity dates. Investment bankers use this term to make selling chopped-up mortgages sound sophisticated—we all remember how that worked out in 2008.
An accounting method that assigns overhead costs to products based on the activities that actually drive those costs, rather than arbitrary allocations like direct labor hours. It's acknowledging that not all products consume resources equally, which revolutionized cost accounting but requires painful implementation.
The discount rate that makes the net present value of an investment zero—basically the breakeven return that justifies the project. If IRR exceeds your hurdle rate, it's theoretically a go; if not, it's a hard pass.
In finance, assets or companies in serious financial trouble, teetering on the edge of bankruptcy or default—basically the business equivalent of a fire sale. Distressed debt trades at steep discounts because there's a real chance investors will lose everything, attracting vulture funds who specialize in profiting from others' misery. Also describes furniture made to look old on purpose, but that's significantly less financially devastating.
The practice of rolling over short-term loans continuously to make them function as long-term financing, or cosmetically refreshing products to extend their revenue life. It's kicking the can down the road with extra steps.
Breaking down financial results by business unit, geography, or product line to show which parts of the company are actually making money. It's where corporate winners and losers get exposed despite management's attempts at averaging.
The tedious audit procedure of tracing numbers from one document to another and reconciling totals, involving literal tick marks on paper. It's as exciting as it sounds and explains why auditors develop that distinctive glazed expression.
A day trader or stockbroker who buys and sells the same stock within a single trading session, pocketing quick profits faster than you can say "capital gains tax." Named for the rapid flip, not the aquatic mammal, though both are equally slippery.
Transactions between related entities in different countries, creating a transfer pricing nightmare and tax optimization opportunity. It's where legitimate business meets aggressive tax planning, separated by a very fine line.