Numbers dressed up in fancy suits pretending to be words.
Cash from operations minus capital expenditures—the actual money left over after keeping the business running that can be used for dividends, buybacks, or acquisitions. It's the ultimate 'show me the money' metric that cuts through accounting games.
A hierarchy determining who gets paid first when money comes in, ensuring investors and executives eat before employees see a dime. It's trickle-down economics but explicitly documented.
When an asset increases in value over time without you lifting a finger—the financial equivalent of your wine collection getting better with age. It's what homeowners brag about at parties and what makes early Bitcoin investors insufferable. The opposite of depreciation, and the reason everyone thinks they're a real estate genius in a bull market.
The difference between the present value of cash inflows and outflows over time, discounted because a dollar today is worth more than a dollar tomorrow—thank you, inflation and opportunity cost. If it's positive, invest; if negative, run away.
Changes made to financial statements to remove one-time or unusual items and show what 'normal' operations look like, assuming such a thing exists. It's the accounting version of 'this isn't my usual performance.'
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 ancient art of recording, classifying, and summarizing financial transactions, then presenting them in ways that either enlighten or confuse everyone involved. It's the language of business, spoken fluently by people who find tax codes exciting. Keeps companies legal, investors informed, and provides employment for millions who really, really like spreadsheets.
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 polite accounting term for 'the numbers don't match and someone's either incompetent or stealing.' These are inconsistencies between what should be and what actually is in financial records, inventory counts, or data sets. Finding discrepancies is either the start of a really boring afternoon of reconciliation or a really exciting fraud investigation.
The predetermined order in which cash flows are distributed among different classes of investors, with senior investors getting paid before junior ones. It's like a literal waterfall—money flows down until each tier is satisfied.
The polite adjective for anything related to money arguments in government or business, where "budgetary concerns" means "we don't want to pay for that." It's the formal way of discussing fiscal matters while avoiding words like "broke," "wasteful," or "embezzled." When someone mentions budgetary constraints, they're either actually out of money or just don't want to fund your brilliant idea.
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.'
Latin for 'equal footing,' meaning creditors or securities rank equally in priority for payment. If the ship sinks, you all go down together—very democratic, if not particularly comforting.
Stocks trading below $5 per share, typically on over-the-counter markets with minimal regulation or scrutiny. It's where pump-and-dump schemes go to flourish and retail investors go to lose their money quickly.
A document that categorizes accounts receivable by how long invoices have been outstanding, essentially a report card showing which customers are ghosting you. The longer the aging period, the less likely you'll ever see that money.
A simulation that models how financial institutions would perform under adverse economic scenarios, like asking 'what if everything goes wrong at once?' The results are somehow always better than reality when crises actually hit.
Acquiring an asset or company for less than its fair value, creating negative goodwill that accounting standards make you recognize as immediate income. It's so rare that its existence suggests either incredible luck or terrible accounting.
The official book of record where all financial transactions are documented, serving as the single source of truth in accounting—or at least it's supposed to be. Modern ledgers are digital, but the concept remains: every debit and credit gets recorded in this master list. It's where accountants go to verify that yes, that expense really happened, and no, you can't just pretend it didn't.
An expense that supposedly happens only once but mysteriously appears in financial statements every single quarter. It's management's favorite way to exclude bad news from 'adjusted' earnings while claiming it's temporary.
The uncomfortable moment when your investment portfolio decides to take an unscheduled vacation to lower valuations, or when you deliberately deplete resources like troops, funds, or your emergency whiskey stash. In finance, it's the peak-to-trough decline that makes investors question all their life choices. Essentially, it's the distance between 'I'm a genius' and 'I should have bought bonds.'
The art of obtaining money for a venture, purchase, or operation, typically through loans, investments, or creative accounting that would make your grandmother worry. In real estate and business, it's the difference between owning something outright and owing a bank for the next 30 years. Everyone says they're 'exploring financing options' which usually means 'we're broke but optimistic.'
In finance, debt or claims that get paid last in the hierarchy of bankruptcy proceedings—basically the financial equivalent of standing at the back of the line. Subordinated debt holders only get paid after senior creditors are satisfied, making it riskier but typically offering higher returns. It's the 'you'll get yours if there's anything left' category of obligations.
The minimum cushion of high-quality capital that banks must maintain relative to their risk-weighted assets, determined by regulators who learned that 'trust us' isn't adequate oversight. Your taxpayer-funded insurance against banker recklessness.
Property or assets not pledged as collateral for any debt, representing truly owned stuff that hasn't been promised to creditors. The financial equivalent of actually owning your car rather than the bank owning it while you make payments.