The UK's official graduate careers website

Login to My Prospects

Not a member yet? Join now
 
 

Accountancy and business services : Jargon buster

More in this section

  1. Overview
  2. Job roles
  3. Entry and progression
  4. Typical employers
  5. Opportunities abroad
  6. Future trends
  7. Jargon buster
  8. Contacts and resources

Print all pages in this section

Case studies

Fast track your career

Get qualified with ACCA, the global body for professional accountants.

Logo: ACCA

  • ABC - activity-based costing. A costing system that identifies the various activities performed in a firm.
  • Asset - anything owned by an individual or a business that has commercial or exchange value.
  • Audit - inspection of the accounting records and procedures of a business, government unit, or other reporting entity by a trained accountant for the purpose of verifying the accuracy and completeness of the records.
  • Balance sheet - an itemised statement that lists the total assets and the total liabilities of a given business to portray its net worth at a given moment of time.
  • Balanced scorecard - a strategic management system based upon measuring key performance indicators across all aspects and areas of an enterprise: financial; customer; internal process; and learning and growth.
  • ‘Big Four’ - usually refers to the largest accounting firms: Deloitte; Ernst & Young; KPMG; and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC).
  • Book-keeping - the recording of business transactions.
  • Break-even analysis - an analysis method used to determine the number of jobs or products that need to be sold to reach a break-even point in a business.
  • Capital expenditure - the amount used during a particular period to acquire or improve long-term assets such as property, plant or equipment.
  • CCAB - Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies. Comprises the six major accountancy professional bodies in the UK. Provides a forum for discussion of matters affecting the profession as a whole and enables the profession to speak with a unified voice to government.
  • CEO - chief executive officer.
  • Credit crunch - occurs when the supply of credit evaporates and there is a reduction in the availability of loans.
  • External audit - an audit conducted by an individual of a firm that is independent of the company being audited.
  • Financial accounting - the area of accounting concerned with reporting financial information to interested external parties.
  • Financial analysis - analysis of a company’s financial statement, usually by accountants or financial analysts.
  • Fixed cost - cost that does not vary depending on production or sales levels, such as rent, property tax, insurance, or interest expense.
  • GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) - Most countries have their own GAAPs, although in Europe and many other parts of the world, countries are adopting the international financial reporting standards.
  • Internal audit - an independent appraisal function established within an organisation to examine and evaluate its activities as a service to the organisation.
  • Overheads - the costs associated with providing and maintaining a manufacturing or working environment.
  • Recession - a general slowdown in economic activity for two consecutive quarters of the year as measured by GDP (gross domestic product).
  • Trial balance - a listing of the accounts in your general ledger and their balances as at a specified date.
  • Variance analysis - the process of examining in detail each variance between actual and budgeted/expected/standard costs to determine the reasons why budgeted results were not met (e.g. sales prices being too low).
  • Year-end - end of the financial year.
  • Zero-based budget - where the expenses or costs of the prior year are not taken into consideration when establishing expense or budgetary levels looking forward.
 
 
 
AGCAS
Written by Dashi Alpion, Aston University
Date: 
August 2010
© Copyright AGCAS & Graduate Prospects Ltd | Disclaimer
 
 
 

This website is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with CSS enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets if you are able to do so.