Accounting Glossary
Accounting Glossary
This glossary contains the words people can use to describe an accountant's work.
- accountant
- noun
- A person whose job is to keep or inspect financial accounts.
- Example: Although he worked in accounts, he had not taken any examinations towards becoming a certified accountant.
- fr: comptable
- accounting
- noun
- The action or process of keeping financial accounts.
- Example: This research proposed that attribute framing effects would be conditional on the nature of the accounting data being considered.
- fr: comptabilité
- bookkeeper
- noun
- A person whose job is to keep records of the financial affairs of a business.
- Example: We are planning to hire a freelance bookkeeper.
- fr: comptable
- business
- noun
- The practice of making one's living by engaging in commerce.
- Example: The newspaper industry is a business, the companies need to sell papers and therefore only print stories that are newsworthy, that will sell because they are of public interest.
- fr: entreprise
- capital
- noun
- Wealth in the form of money or other assets owned by a person or organization or available or contributed for a particular purpose such as starting a company or investing.
- Example: Rates of return on invested capital were high.
- fr: capital
- cost
- noun
- An amount that has to be paid or spent to buy or obtain something.
- Example: Their turnover and sales have increased whilst their expenses and cost of sales decreased which is a good indication that investment is getting a return which is also indicated by the operating profit.
- fr: coût
- credit
- noun
- A customer's ability to obtain goods or services before payment, based on the trust that payment will be made in the future.
- Example: Prosperity, too, had been the product of small enterprises and a lengthy consumer boom financed by credit.
- fr: crédit
- debit
- noun
- An entry recording an amount owed, listed on the left-hand side or column of an account.
- Example: As the projects started to emerge from the new road map, the researchers (and the top management) were not able to convince the donors to fund them, being more and more reliant on core funds, ultimately leaving a debit of one million US dollars in ISNAR's account.
- fr: débit
- expenses
- noun
- Charges incurred during a business assignment or trip.
- Example: Their turnover and sales have increased whilst their expenses and cost of sales decreased which is a good indication that investment is getting a return which is also indicated by the operating profit.
- fr: dépenses
- file
- noun
- A folder or box for holding loose papers that are typically arranged in a particular order for easy reference.
- Example: The following report gives a detailed analysis of the bank employee data file.
- fr: fichier
- finance
- verb
- Provide funding for (a person or enterprise).
- Example: Governments argue that they need these exports to obtain the foreign currency wanted to finance the region's debts.
- fr: financer
- government
- noun
- The governing body of a nation, state, or community.
- Example: The British government has attempted virtually to nullify this definition of military objectives by stating its "understanding" that "a specific area of land" may be a military objective.
- fr: gouvernement
- gross
- adjective
- (of income, profit, or interest) without deduction of tax or other contributions; total.
- Example: This hypothesis can be investigated, in which the sample has been subdivided according to whether respondents lived in households with a gross annual income from all sources of less or more than £6000 in 1984
- fr: brut
- income
- noun
- Money received, especially on a regular basis, for work or through investments.
- Example: The additional income could help to extend the product range.
- fr: revenu
- inventory
- noun
- A complete list of items such as property, goods in stock, or the contents of a building.
- Example: They made an inventory of the industries in the zone and then made contact with union members in them.
- fr: inventaire
- laptop
- noun
- A computer that is portable and suitable for use while traveling.
- Example: Today most people access the Internet by using a desktop or laptop at home and at the office.
- fr: ordinateur portable
- mathematics
- noun
- The abstract science of number, quantity, and space. Mathematics may be studied in its own right (pure mathematics), or as it is applied to other disciplines such as physics and engineering (applied mathematics).
- Example: Rene Descartes (1596-1650) was not just a psychologist; he also developed influential Philosophical theories and contributed to the fields of mathematics and Geometry.
- fr: mathématiques
- net
- adjective
- Free from all charges or deductions.
- Example: The net weight of something excludes the weight of the material that it is packed in.
- fr: net
- office
- noun
- A room, set of rooms, or building where the business of a commercial or industrial organization or of a professional person is conducted.
- Example: All was quiet in the office of the Yankees and the local National Leaguers yesterday.
- fr: bureau
- payroll
- noun
- The total amount of wages and salaries paid by a company to its employees.
- Example: The company is growing fast, adding another 100 employees to its payroll.
- fr: paie
- profit
- noun
- A financial gain, especially the difference between the amount earned and the amount spent in buying, operating, or producing something.
- Example: In order to make a profit the business needs its operations to be as efficient as possible so that customer service is high, and in recent years the best way to achieve this has been with modern technology.
- fr: profit
- revenues
- noun
- The collective items or amounts of income of a person, a state, etc.
- Example: This increases to 8% for firms with annual revenues greater than $750 million.
- fr: revenus
- screen
- noun
- A flat panel or area on an electronic device such as a television, computer, or smartphone, on which images and data are displayed.
- Example: Raster digitizing is the term given to describe heads up digitizing on a computer screen using a mouse.
- fr: écran
- shareholder
- noun
- An owner of shares in a company.
- Example: The company secretary has written to all the shareholders to apologize for the mistake.
- fr: actionnaire
- tax
- noun
- A compulsory contribution to state revenue, levied by the government on workers' income and business profits, or added to the cost of some goods, services, and transactions.
- Example: The question raised was the precise amount of tax to be paid for the benefit received.
- fr: impôt