glossary.gif (4227 bytes) WORDS AND THEIR MEANINGS

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Acquisition

When a company buys up another company.

Assets

What the corporation owns e.g. plant, machinery, property.

Capital Intensive

Production processes which use high technology and relatively few workers.

Conglomerate

A giant corporation made up of many companies, e.g. a holding company and many subsidiaries.

Creditors

Money which the company owes to others for goods/services it has received but not yet paid for.

Current Assets

What is owned by the company or owed to it and which will be used up in the coming year, e.g. stock, cash, debtors.

Current Liabilities

Money owed by the company which it will have to pay within the year.

Debtors

Money owed to the company by customers who have bought the company's goods/services but not yet paid for them.

Depreciation

A calculation for wear and tear on the company's plant and equipment; this figure can be manipulated, e.g. when a company cuts the number of years that it expects equipment to last, the depreciation figurebecomes higher, and this reduces profits.

Disposal

When a company sells another company that has owned.

Dividends

The profits paid out to the owners (shareholders).

Emoluments

Money paid to the company directors; all directors get a fee for attending meetings; executive directors get a salary as well.

Fixed Assets

Things which the company owns and which will be used up over several years, e.g. land, buildings, machinery and motor vehicles.

Franchise

A type of agreement between companies which allows one to use the trademark, brand name, or copyright of another.

Holding Company

A company which owns more than 50% of another company. It may also be called a 'parent company'.

Investments

Money spent to earn more money, e.g. on shares in another company.

Labour Intensive

Production processes which use the labour of many workers, rather than high technology.

Long-term Liabilities

Money borrowed, e.g. from a bank, which must be paid back but not yet, say in 5 years' time.

Merger

When two companies come together to form one, or when one absorbs another.

Net Current Assets

'Current assets' minus 'current liabilities'. It is the sum of money the company could raise in a hurry.

Net Operating Income

The profit made by a company after paying for wages, rent, raw materials, but before paying interest to the bank, tax to the government and dividends to the owners.

Net Income Attributable

The profits after all expenses: this money belongs to the shareholders.

Profit

What the company has earned from its sales, minus what it has spent in taxes, rent, supplies, wages, etc.

Reserves

What profits the company has kept from the past. This money belongs to the shareholders.

Retained Income

The profits which are kept in the company to make it more profitable in the future.

Sales

How much money the company made by selling its goods and/or services.

Shareholder

A person or another company which has put money into a company. A shareholder is a part-owner of the company and has the right to a share in the company's profits.

Shareholders equity / Stockholders equity

The capital put in by shareholders, plus the company's reserves: or what the shareholders will get if thebusiness is liquidated now.

Solvent

When a company is able to pay all its debts.

Stocks

These are what the company currently holds including finished products, unfinished products, and raw materials which the company has bought.

Subsidiary

A company which is owned by another company.

Takeover

When one company buys up or in some other way takes over another company.

Turnover

Same as sales.

Unbundling

Reorganising the shareholdings in companies controlled by a conglomerate, so as to move power over investment decisions away from the top directors to company-level directors.


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