Numbers dressed up in fancy suits pretending to be words.
A tax deduction that allows businesses to subtract expenses from their taxable income, famously misunderstood by everyone thanks to that one Seinfeld episode. Half the population thinks a write-off means something is free, which keeps accountants employed correcting people at parties.
The practice of making financial statements look prettier than reality through perfectly legal but ethically questionable timing of transactions. It's like cleaning your apartment only when you know someone's coming over.
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 accounting equivalent of admitting you overpaid for something—a reduction in the book value of an asset that's lost value faster than a new car leaving the dealership. Companies take write-downs when reality crashes their optimistic valuation party. It's how CFOs say 'oops' in the annual report without actually saying it.
Current assets minus current liabilities—the money available to fund daily operations without selling the furniture. Positive working capital means you can pay your bills; negative means start selling that furniture.
Informal direction from central banks to commercial banks about lending levels, used extensively in Japan to control credit without formal policy. It's called 'guidance' but functions more like strongly-worded suggestions you can't ignore.
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.