ABC
  • Activity-based costing (ABC) aims to provide a dynamic and realistic means of calculating the true cost of doing business. It precisely allocates direct and indirect costs to particular products or customer segments.

A/P  / Accounts Payable
  • A/P is the monies the company owes for goods or services received, but not yet paid for.

A/R  / Accounts Receivable
  • A/R is the monies due to the company for goods sold or services rendered for which payment has not yet been received.

Activity-Based Costing
  • Activity-based costing (ABC) aims to provide a dynamic and realistic means of calculating the true cost of doing business. It precisely allocates direct and indirect costs to particular products or customer segments.

Assets
  • Assets are all of a company's physical or intellectual property that has financial value.

Balanced Scorecard
  • The balanced scorecard is a strategic management and measurement system that links strategic objectives to a comprehensive range of key performance indicators, to provide a balanced view.

Barriers to Entry
  • Barriers to entry are those things that make it difficult for a new company to compete against companies already established in the field. Examples include such things as patents, trademarks, copyrighted technology, and a dominant brand.

Benchmarking
  • Benchmarking is the process of gathering information about other companies in your industry to compare your performance against and to use to set goals.

Bottom Line
  • Bottom Line refers to the bottom line of an Income Statement. The bottom line shows the Net Income Available To Shareholders. When a company talks about increasing the bottom line, they mean doing things to either increase the revenue or decrease expenses so the company's income increases.

Break-Even Point
  • The break-even point is the point at which income matches expenditures. Typically, initial expenditures are high. It takes time for the income to reach the same level. The break-even point can apply to a product, an investment, or the entire company's operations.

Capital
  • Capital is the financial investment required to start and/or run a business.

Cash Flow
  • Cash Flow is the movement of money into and out of a company. When more comes in than goes out, it is said to be a positive cash flow. A negative cash flow is when more goes out than comes in.

Company Culture
  • Company Culture is the term given to the shared values and practices of the employees. Note that the actual culture may not match the published culture.

Continuous Improvement Plan
  • A Continuous Improvement Plan is a set of activities designed to bring gradual, but continual improvement to a process through constant review. The Shewhart cycle is among the best known.

Cost of Goods Sold
  • Cost of Goods Sold (CGS) are the costs directly related to the purchase or production of whatever the company sells.

Cost of Sales
  • Cost of Sales are the costs directly related to the purchase or production of whatever the company sells.

Cross Training
  • Cross training is training someone in another activity that is related to their current work. The name comes from the fact that you are training them across a broader spectrum of the organization's work.

Discounted Cash Flow
  • Discounted cash flow is a sophisticated technique used by financial analysts. Despite its complexity, discounted cash flow analysis is based on a simple idea - that cash today is worth more than cash promised in the future.

Earnings Statement
  • An Earnings Statement is a standard financial document that summarizes a company's revenue and expenses for a specific period of time, usually one quarter of a fiscal year and the entire fiscal year.

EBITDA
  • EBITDA is an abbreviation for Earnings before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortization. It reports what the company would have earned during the period if it did not have to pay interest on its debt; didn't have to pay taxes; and had depreciated the full value of all assets at their acquisition. It is roughly equivalent to the Operating Income line in the Income Statements.

Expenses
  • Expenses are the costs of doing business that result from generating revenue. They include parts, salaries, utilities, etc.

Fiscal Year
  • A twelve-month accounting period that usually, but not necessarily, starts on January 1.  FY is the abbreviation for fiscal year, a twelve-month accounting period that usually, but not necessarily, starts on January 1.

Fixed Assets
  • Fixed Assets are the non-liquid assets that are required for the company's day-to-day operations. They include facilities, equipment, and real property.

Fixed Costs
  • Fixed Costs are expenses that don't change based on production or sales volumes. They include salaries, rent, insurance, etc.

Gross Profit
  • Gross Profit equals sales revenue minus the cost of goods sold.

Gross Revenue
  • Gross Revenue is money generated by all of a company's operations, before deductions for expenses.

Income Statement
  • An Income Statement is a standard financial document that summarizes a company's revenue and expenses for a specific period of time, usually one quarter of a fiscal year and the entire fiscal year.

Insider Trading
  • Illegal Insider Trading is the trading in a security (buying or selling a stock) based on material information that is not available to the general public.  It is prohibited by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) because it is unfair and would destroy the securities markets by destroying investor confidence.

Intellectual Property
  • Intellectual Property (IP) is all of a company's patents, trademarks, service marks, trade names, trade secrets, and copyrights. It is distinguished from capital property.  IP  Intellectual Property (IP) is all of a company's patents, trademarks, service marks, trade names, trade secrets, and copyrights. It is distinguished from capital property.

Kaizen (Quality Circles)
  • As much a social system as an industrial process, kaizen is at the heart of the quality philosophy, and involves the use of quality circles - or small teams of workers - to analyze and make suggestions for improving their own work tasks.

Key Performance Indicators
  • Key Performance Indicators (KPI) are quantifiable measurements, agreed to beforehand, that reflect the critical success factors (of the company, department, project).

Key Success Indicators
  • Key Success Indicators are quantifiable measurements, agreed to beforehand, that reflect the critical success factors (of the company, department, project).

Liabilities
  • Liabilities are all of a company's financial obligations that have a negative value.

Long Term Assets
  • Long Term Assets are the non-liquid assets that are required for the company's day-to-day operations. They include facilities, equipment, and real property.

Market Share
  • A company's market share is the percentage of any of its markets that it holds. Companies will often discount their products in order to saturate the marketplace with them and thereby gain a bigger market share.
Consulting Managers Wordbank

Metrics
  • Metrics are a set of measurements that quantify results. Performance metrics quantify the units performance. Project metrics tell you whether the project is meeting its goals. Business metrics define the business' progress in measurable terms.

NDA
  • NDA is the abbreviation for non-disclosure agreement. An NDA is a legal contract that allows a company to share its IP with others, whose input it needs, without unduly jeopardizing that information.

Net Income
  • Net Income is total revenue minus total expense, what's left of the monies received after all debts have been paid, the bottom line. If Net Income is positive it is also called Net Profit. A negative Net Income is a Net Loss.

Objective
  • A business objective is something the business is aiming toward or a strategic position it is working to attain. Usually it is a step in the strategy. Objectives are similar to goals, but often have success/failure rather than quantifiable metrics.

OD
  • Organization Development (OD) is an evolving field of consulting practice that is dedicated to understanding and positively impacting the processes of human systems (formal and informal groups, teams, organizations, and individual leaders) in order to increase their effectiveness, health and overall success. OD practitioners leverage the best of a variety of disciplines, including applied behavioral science. OD focuses on achieving results through people.

Opportunities
  • A company's opportunities are the gains it has the potential to realize. It may have the potential to gain market share, the ability to raise cash by divesting of less-profitable units, etc. Opportunities are also part of a SWOT analysis, the abbreviation for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

Outsourcing
  • Outsourcing involves an organization passing the provision of a service or the execution of a task previously undertaken in-house to a third party to perform on its behalf.

Paradigm
  • A paradigm is a pattern or example. In business it is a framework of behaviors or set of rules action governing people's actions and assumptions.

Profit and Loss Statement
  • A Profit and Loss Statement is a standard financial document that summarizes a company's revenue and expenses for a specific period of time, usually one quarter of a fiscal year and the entire fiscal year.

Relationship Marketing
  • Relationship marketing refers to the benefits that ongoing relationships with key customers can bring to an organization.

R & D
  • R & D is the abbreviation for Research and Development. This refers to the line on an income statement showing the amount of money a company has re-invested during the period to find and develop new products.

Request for Proposal
  • A Request for Proposal is a document issued when an organization wants to buy something and chooses to make the specifications available to many other companies so they can submit competitive bids. It is sometimes referred to as a RFP.

Request for Quotation
  • A Request for Quotation is a document issued when an organization wants to buy something and chooses to make the specifications available to many other companies so they can submit competitive bids. It is sometimes referred to as a RFQ

Return on Assets
  • Return on Assets (abbreviated ROA) is a measure of a company's profitability. It is calculated as earnings divided total average assets and is expressed as a percentage.

Return on Investment
  • Return on Investment (abbreviated ROI) is a measure of a company's ability to use its assets to generate additional value for shareholders. It is calculated as Net Profit divided by Net Worth, and expressed as a percentage.  It is also used to assess the viability of capital project funding to ensure the most efficient use of company resources. 

Revenue
  • Revenue is money generated by a company's operations, before deductions for expenses.

Sales Revenue
  • Sales Revenue is money generated by a company's sales operations, before deductions for expenses.

SME
  • Small and Medium-sized Enterprises or SMEs are companies whose headcount or turnover falls below certain limits.  The abbreviation SME occurs commonly in the EU and in international organizations, such as the World Bank, the United Nations and the WTO, but less so in the US. Companies with headcounts less than 100 are typically labeled "Small" while organizations with head counts less than 500 are considered "Medium" in the US.  In Switzerland many companies fall into the headcount clssification yet are in fact the global Head Office for a group of companies.

Strategy
  • A Strategy is the plan you develop to help you achieve your vision. It requires an evaluation of your organization internally, but also of the external and environmental factors, especially competitors, that can impact you.

Strengths
  • A company's strengths are the things it does well. It may have a dominant market share or have a low turnover rate, etc. Strengths are also part of a SWOT analysis, the abbreviation for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

Strike Price
  • The Strike Price is the price at which the holder of a stock option may purchase the stock.  If the strike price is below the price at which the stock is trading on the open market, the option holder may be able to make a profit. If the stock price on the open market is below the strike price, the options are said to be "underwater". It would make no sense to exercise an "underwater" option because that would mean buying the stock through the stock option at a higher price than you would pay on the open market.

SWOT
  • SWOT is the abbreviation for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. These four factors provide a framework which an organization can use to conduct a structured analysis of its operations.  A quick and easy tool to use in decision making and planning

Tactics
  • Tactics are the specific actions, sequences of actions, and schedules you use to fulfill your strategy. If you have more than one strategy you will have different tactics for each.

Threats
  • A company's threats are the dangers it faces, either from within or from outside. Threats can be things like a new low-cost competitor, possible new government regulations, etc. Threats are also part of a SWOT analysis, the abbreviation for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

Top Line
  • Top Line refers to the top line of an Income Statement. The top line shows the Total Sales Revenue. When a company goal is to increase the top line, it means to concentrate on increasing gross sales.

Variable Costs
  • Variable Costs are expenses that vary based on production volumes. They include material, labor, production utilities, etc.

Vest / Vesting
  • To give someone control over their stock or stock options. When employees are given stock options or restricted stock, they often do not gain control over the stock or options for a period of time. This period is known as the vesting period and is usually 3 to 5 years. During the vesting period the employee cannot sell or transfer the stock or options.

Vision
  • Your organization's Vision is the over-riding principle that guides the organization. It defines what you want the organization to be. The vision is often the dream of the founder or leader.

Weaknesses
  • A company's weaknesses are the things it does not do well or that others do better. It may have a high turnover, be more concerned about processes than progress, etc. Weaknesses are also part of a SWOT analysis, the abbreviation for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

For more information on Cambridge BEC or Business English skills lessons, courses or workshops with

The Boston School please

Telephone

Rose Nassif Travers on (+41)  044 310 30 38

or

email The Boston School
For more information please telephone
Rose Nassif Travers on (+41)  044 310 30 38
The Boston School    Schaffhauserstrasse 331     8050 Zürich
The Boston School
                                  opens doors ...