Operating Expense

Beginner 💰 Finance / Accounting

Definition

The costs of running your business that aren't directly tied to production—salaries, rent, and executive compensation.

Example Usage

Our operating expenses are too high; we need to cut G&A costs.

Origin

Standard income statement classification

Fun Fact

Operating expenses are where companies hide massive costs that 'aren't related to revenue,' like executive bonuses

Source: Standard income statement classification

Related Terms

Beginner

investments

Capital placed somewhere with the expectation of future returns, or what people call their lottery tickets when they want to sound financially sophisticated. Can range from buying stocks and bonds to funding your cousin's cryptocurrency scheme that's 'definitely going to moon.' The difference between an investment and gambling is mostly how you explain losses at dinner parties.

💰 Finance / Accounting
Beginner

advances

Money given before it's technically due, whether as a loan, a payment against future earnings, or corporate optimism in physical form. It's the financial equivalent of borrowing from tomorrow, often appearing in employee expense scenarios or publishing deals. Not to be confused with romantic advances, though both can lead to awkward HR conversations.

💰 Finance / Accounting
Intermediate

annuity

A financial product that promises to pay you regular amounts of money over time, typically used by retirees who want to convert their life savings into a predictable income stream instead of one terrifying lump sum. Insurance companies love selling these because they get to hold your money and invest it while doling it back to you in installments, ideally outliving you so they keep the remainder. It's basically the reverse of a loan: you give them money now, and they give it back slowly, assuming the fine print doesn't contain seventeen escape clauses.

💰 Finance / Accounting
Intermediate

Volatility

How wildly a stock's price swings up and down, which is finance's polite way of saying buckle up. High volatility means your portfolio could be worth a fortune at lunch and a used Honda by dinner. Day traders love it. Cardiologists recommend against it.

💰 Finance / Accounting
Advanced

arbitrageur

A financial wizard who makes money by exploiting price differences across markets, basically the sophisticated cousin of the person who buys concert tickets cheap and sells them expensive. They're the reason your economics professor kept going on about market efficiency being impossible. Investment banks love them; everyone else thinks they're basically legalized scalpers in suits.

💰 Finance / Accounting
Advanced

carry trade

Borrowing money in a currency with low interest rates, then investing it in assets with higher returns elsewhere, pocketing the difference. Works brilliantly until exchange rates move against you and your 'free money' becomes very expensive.

💰 Finance / Accounting

Translate This Term

See “Operating Expense” in Corporate Speak, Gen-Z Slang, Pirate Speak, and more.

Try the Translator

Share This Term

Post on XShare on FacebookShare on LinkedIn

Discover a Term

Beginner

friendzone

(noun) A degrading form of exploitation. The female equivalent of a sleaze who sleeps with you and never calls. Except i...