Numbers dressed up in fancy suits pretending to be words.
Converting a company's assets into actual cash because it turns out the business model was primarily composed of wishful thinking and spreadsheet optimism. The corporate fire sale that happens after the fire already burned everything down.
People you owe money to who possess a supernatural ability to remember the exact amount owed with devastating precision. They're technically patient but somehow expert at making debt feel like a personal betrayal.
Moving an unused deduction or credit from one tax year to the next year or future years. It's the tax world's way of softening blows from bad years by letting you use them later.
A person or business so financially submerged that accountants gave up and lawyers got involved. The point where 'broke' becomes a court-acknowledged legal catastrophe requiring formal government intervention.
The money returned to your account when a product disappoints you as much as that software project that promised to 'synergize stakeholder value.' The miraculous process of giving money back.
In legal and financial contexts, the person courts appoint to manage assets (often because the owner proved spectacularly incompetent). Basically, a financial babysitter with legal authority over your mess.
Long-term assets like buildings, equipment, and vehicles that aren't meant to be sold as part of normal operations. They're on the balance sheet for years and gradually depreciated as they slowly become worthless.
Deliberately manipulating financial records to misrepresent a company's actual performance. Also known as 'creative accounting' when it's not quite criminal.
Trading ahead of client orders by using insider knowledge of pending transactions; highly illegal and incredibly profitable if caught slowly.
A measure of how much debt a company uses relative to its equity, showing financial risk. High leverage means lots of debt; low leverage means the company paid with its own money and didn't maximize returns.
The difference between a company's book balance and actual bank balance due to checks written but not yet cleared. Temporary money that doesn't belong to you but you can use anyway.
The percentage of revenue remaining after expenses; gross margin (before OpEx), operating margin (after OpEx), and net margin (after everything). The more the better.
When an asset's value drops permanently, you must write it down on the books. It's accounting's way of admitting you bought something that's now worthless, usually after several years of pretending it wasn't.
Cash in transit between accounts or between a company and its bank, where it technically belongs to neither for a brief period. The financial phenomenon accountants use to explain why the bank and the company's records disagree.
A manipulation scheme where fraudsters artificially inflate a stock's price (pump) then sell their shares (dump) to unsuspecting buyers. Profitable for liars.
A daily allowance paid to employees for travel expenses, supposed to cover meals and incidentals. It's the company's way of saying 'eat cheap so we save money.'
An independent examination of financial statements to verify they're accurate and follow accounting standards. It's the financial equivalent of a teacher grading a student's homework—usually they find mistakes.
Unusual, infrequent events that significantly impact financial results—like selling off a division or natural disaster losses. Companies use this to claim profits look better than they actually are.
How many times a company sells and replaces its inventory during a period. High turnover is usually good (products sell fast), unless it's so high that you're constantly out of stock.
The accounting system where every transaction affects at least two accounts (a debit and a credit), ensuring the fundamental accounting equation always balances. It's elegant, logical, and has been fooling people for 600 years.
An auditor's way of saying 'I checked this, and yeah, the numbers aren't obviously fraudulent' without actually guaranteeing anything—a middle ground between full financial audits and just hoping for the best. Lawyers and accountants love it because it's official-sounding but preserves plausible deniability.
The abbreviated laziness code for 'amount'—a term beloved by those too busy to type five extra letters. Commonly found in spreadsheets, invoices, and forms filled out by people who believe vowels are optional. Professional accountants pretend not to see it in formal documents.
A three-month period used by companies to report financial results and make shareholders simultaneously hopeful and disappointed. Also a fourth of anything, though in business it's specifically a fourth of a fiscal year where numbers matter way too much.
Something you didn't plan to make but ended up with anyway—sometimes it's gold, sometimes it's waste. The unintentional gift your manufacturing process gives you while you're busy making something else.