discount

Definition

A price reduction that makes accountants slightly nervous because it means less margin, but customers absolutely love it.

Example Usage

We're offering a 20% discount on bulk orders to incentivize larger purchases.

Source: Common business terminology

Related Terms

Intermediate

incurred

Corporate-speak for 'we spent money' or 'we're now responsible for something unfortunate.' It's the passive-aggressive accounting term for when costs, debts, or liabilities show up uninvited on your balance sheet. The word makes financial disasters sound inevitable and sophisticated, as if you didn't just make a questionable decision.

💰 Finance / Accounting

Beginner

renewable

Something that can theoretically last forever, like subscriptions that auto-renew until you die or energy sources that won't destroy the planet. In finance, it's contracts or licenses that keep going unless someone remembers to cancel them. In environmental contexts, it's resources like solar and wind that corporations love to brag about in sustainability reports.

💰 Finance / Accounting

Advanced

liquidator

The professional hired to turn a dead company's corpse into cash for creditors. They're the financial undertakers who specialize in converting assets into cold, hard liquidity while disappointed shareholders watch.

💰 Finance / Accounting

Advanced

tranche

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.

💰 Finance / Accounting

Beginner

earnings

The holy grail number that makes or breaks quarterly investor calls and determines whether executives get bonuses or pink slips. It's the money a company actually makes (profits) or what you take home from your job (wages), stripped of all the accounting wizardry and excuses. Wall Street obsesses over this single metric like it's the meaning of life.

💰 Finance / Accounting

Intermediate

cost basis

The original purchase price of an asset used to calculate capital gains taxes, proving that the IRS wants documentation of every financial decision you've ever made. Lose track of it and prepare for tax-time panic.

💰 Finance / Accounting

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