Dictionary of Accounting Terms Barron''''s Business Guides_6 docx

prudent /prudənt/ adjective careful, nottaking any risks prudential ratio prudential ratio /pru|denʃəl reiʃiəυ/ noun a ratio of capital to assets which a bankfeels it is prudent to have,

profit-related pay 176

profit-related pay

profit-related pay /prɒfit ri|leitid pei/

noun pay including bonuses which is linked

to profit

profit retained for the year

profit retained for the year /prɒfit ri|

earnings

profit-sharing

profit-sharing /prɒfit ʃeəriŋ/ noun 1.

an arrangement whereby employees get a

share of the profits of the company they

work for 쑗 The company runs a

profit-shar-ing scheme. 2. the practice of dividing

prof-its among employees

profit squeeze

profit squeeze /prɒfit skwiz/ noun a

strict control of the amount of profits which

companies can pay out as dividend

profit-taking

profit-taking /prɒfit teikiŋ/ noun the

act of selling investments to realise the

profit, rather than keeping them 쑗 Share

prices fell under continued profit-taking.

‘…some profit-taking was seen yesterday

as investors continued to lack fresh

incen-tives to renew buying activity’ [Financial

Times]

profit variance

profit variance /prɒfit veəriəns/ noun

a discrepancy between actual profit and

budgeted profit

profit-volume chart

profit-volume chart /prɒfit vɒljum

varies with changes in volume of production

profit warning

profit warning noun an announced

income level for a company that is

signifi-cantly lower than that forecast by analysts

pro forma

pro forma /prəυ fɔmə/ verb to issue a

pro forma invoice 쑗 Can you pro forma this

order?

pro-forma financial statement

pro-forma financial statement /prəυ

pro-jection showing a business’s financial

state-ments after the completion of a planned

transaction

pro forma invoice

pro forma invoice /prəυ fɔmə

invoice sent to a buyer before the goods are

sent, so that payment can be made or so that

goods can be sent to a consignee who is not

the buyer 쑗 They sent us a pro forma

invoice 쑗 We only supply that account on

pro forma.

programme evaluation and review technique

programme evaluation and review

technique /prəυrm ivlju|eiʃ(ə)n

and controlling a large project,

concentrat-ing on schedulconcentrat-ing and completion on time

Abbreviation PERT

progress

progress noun /prəυres/ the movement

of work towards completion 쑗 to report on

the progress of the work or of the

negotia-tions 쐽 verb /prəυres/ to move forward,

to go ahead 쑗 The contract is progressing through various departments.

progressive

progressive /prə|resiv/ adjective ing forward in stages

mov-progressive tax

progressive tax /prə|resiv tks/ noun

a tax with a rate that increases as incomeincreases

progressive taxation

progressive taxation /prə|resiv tk|

levels increase as the income is higher Alsocalled graduated taxation

prohibitive

prohibitive /prəυ|hibitiv/ adjective with

a price so high that you cannot afford to pay

it 쑗 The cost of redesigning the product is prohibitive.

project

project / / noun 1. a plan 쑗 She

has drawn up a project for developing new markets in Europe. 2. a particular job ofwork which follows a plan 쑗 We are just completing an engineering project in North Africa 쑗 The company will start work on the project next month.

project accounting

which financial reports are produced inorder to track costs on individual projectsproject costing

noun a system used for collecting tion on the costs of a specific business activ-ity or project

informa-projected

projected /prə| / adjective

planned or expectedproject finance

noun money raised for a specific ing, usually a construction or developmentproject

undertak-projection

projection /prə| / noun a forecast

of something which will happen in thefuture 쑗 Projection of profits for the next three years 쑗 The sales manager was asked

to draw up sales projections for the next three years.

project planning

noun the process of making decisions aboutmajor, long-term capital investmentspromise

promise /prɒmis/ noun an act of sayingthat you will do something쐽 verb to say thatyou will do something 쑗 They promised to pay the last instalment next week.

promissory note

promissory note /prɒmisəri nəυt/

noun a document stating that someonepromises to pay an amount of money on aspecific date

promote

promote /prə|məυt/ verb 1. to give one a more important job or to move some-one to a higher grade 쑗 He was promoted

some-from salesman to sales manager. 2. to tise a product

adver-177 protest

promotion

promotion /prə|məυʃ(ə)n/ noun the fact

of being moved up to a more important job

쑗 I ruined my chances of promotion when I

argued with the managing director 쑗 The

job offers good promotion chances or

pro-motion prospects.

‘…finding the right promotion to appeal to

children is no easy task’ [Marketing]

‘…you have to study the profiles and

peo-ple involved very carefully and tailor the

promotion to fill those needs’ [Marketing

Week]

prompt

prompt /prɒmpt/ adjective rapid or done

immediately 쑗 We got very prompt service

at the complaints desk 쑗 Thank you for your

prompt reply to my letter.

proof

proof /pruf/ noun evidence which shows

that something is true

-proof

-proof /pruf/ suffix protected from the

negative effect of something 쑗 an

inflation-proof pension

property

property /prɒpəti/ noun 1. land and

buildings 쑗 Property taxes are higher in the

inner city 쑗 They are assessing damage to

property or property damage after the storm.

쑗 The commercial property market is

boom-ing. 2. a building 쑗 We have several

proper-ties for sale in the centre of the town.

property bond

property bond /prɒpəti bɒnd/ noun an

investment in a fund invested in properties

or in property companies

property company

property company /prɒpəti

buildings to lease them

proportion

proportion /prə|pɔʃ(ə)n/ noun a part of a

total 쑗 A proportion of the pre-tax profit is

set aside for contingencies 쑗 Only a small

proportion of our sales comes from retail

shops.

proportional

proportional /prə|pɔʃ(ə)nəl/ adjective

increasing or decreasing at the same rate as

something else 쑗 The increase in profit is

proportional to the reduction in overheads.

proportionally

proportionally /prə|pɔʃ(ə)nəli/ adverb

in a way that is proportional

proportional taxation

proportional taxation /prə|pɔʃ(ə)nəl

the tax collected is in constant proportion to

the income being taxed, i.e as income rises

so tax rises proportionately

proprietary

proprietary /prə|praiət(ə)ri/ noun,

adjective a product, e.g a medicine which is

made and owned by a company

proprietary company

proprietary company /prə|praiət(ə)ri

invest in stock of other companies so as to

control them Abbreviation pty

proprietary drug

proprietary drug /prə|praiət(ə)ri dr/

noun a drug which is made by a particularcompany and marketed under a brand nameproprietor

proprietor /prə|praiətə/ noun the owner

of a business, especially in the hospitalityindustry 쑗 She is the proprietor of a hotel or

a hotel proprietor 쑗 The restaurant has a new proprietor.

proprietors’ interest

proprietors’ interest /prə|praiətəz

of a business have invested in the businesspro rata

pro rata /prəυ rɑtə/ adjective, adverb at

a rate which varies according to the size orimportance of something 쑗 When part of the

shipment was destroyed we received a pro rata payment 쑗 The full-time pay is £800 a week and the part-timers are paid pro rata.

prospect

prospect /prɒspekt/ noun a chance orpossibility that something will happen in thefuture 왍 her job prospects are good she is

very likely to find a jobprospective

prospective /prə|spektiv/ adjective sibly happening in the future

pos-prospective dividend

prospective dividend /prə|spektiv

divi-dend

prospective P/E ratio

prospective P/E ratio /prə|spektiv pi

future on the basis of forecast dividendsprospects

prospects /prɒspekts/ plural noun thepossibilities for the future

prospectus

prospectus /prə|spektəs/ noun a ment which gives information to attract buy-ers or customers 쑗 The restaurant has peo- ple handing out prospectuses in the street.

docu-‘…when the prospectus emerges, existingshareholders and any prospective newinvestors can find out more by calling thefree share information line; they will besent a leaflet Non-shareholders who regis-ter in this way will receive a prospectuswhen it is published; existing shareholders

will be sent one automatically’ [Financial Times]

protectionism

protectionism /prə|tekʃəniz(ə)m/ noun

the practice of protecting producers in thehome country against foreign competitors

by banning or taxing imports or by imposingimport quotas

protective tariff

protective tariff /prə|tektiv trif/

noun a tariff which tries to ban imports tostop them competing with local productspro tem

pro tem /prəυ tem/ adverb temporarily,for a time

protest

protest /prəυtest/ noun an official ment which proves that a bill of exchangehas not been paid

docu-provide 178

provide

provide /prə|vaid/ verb 1. to give or

sup-ply something 2. to put money aside in

accounts to cover expenditure or loss in the

future 쑗 £25,000 is provided against bad

debts.

provident

provident /prɒvid(ə)nt/ adjective

pro-viding benefits in case of illness, old age or

other cases of need 쑗 a provident fund 쑗 a

provident society

provider of capital

provider of capital /prə|vaidər əv

which provides capital to a business, usually

by being a shareholder

provision

provision /prə| / noun an amount

of money put aside in accounts for

antici-pated expenditure where the timing or

amount of expenditure is uncertain, often for

doubtful debts 쑗 The bank has made a £2m

provision for bad debts or a $5bn provision

against Third World loans.

‘…landlords can create short lets of

dwell-ings which will be free from the normal

security of tenure provisions’ [Times]

provisional

provisional /prə| / adjective

temporary, not final or permanent 쑗 The

sales department has been asked to make a

provisional forecast of sales 쑗 The

provi-sional budget has been drawn up for each

department.

provisionally

provisionally /prə| / adverb not

finally 쑗 The contract has been accepted

provisionally.

provisions

provisions /prə| / plural noun

money put aside in accounts for anticipated

expenditure where the timing or amount of

expenditure is uncertain If the expenditure

is not certain to occur at all, then the money

set aside is called a ‘contingent liability’

proxy

proxy /prɒksi/ noun 1. a document which

gives someone the power to act on behalf of

someone else 쑗 to sign by proxy 2. a person

who acts on behalf of someone else 쑗 She

asked the chairman to act as proxy for her.

proxy form

proxy form /prɒksi fɔm/, proxy card

sharehold-ers receive with their invitations to attend an

AGM, and that they fill in if they want to

appoint a proxy to vote for them on a

resolu-tion

proxy statement

proxy statement /prɒksi steitmənt/

noun a document, filed with the SEC,

out-lining executive pay packages, option grants

and other perks, and also giving details of

dealings by executives in shares of the

com-pany

proxy vote

proxy vote /prɒksi vəυt/ noun a vote

made on behalf of someone who is not

present 쑗 The proxy votes were all in favour

of the board’s recommendation.

prudent /prudənt/ adjective careful, nottaking any risks

prudential ratio

prudential ratio /pru|denʃ(ə)l reiʃiəυ/

noun a ratio of capital to assets which a bankfeels it is prudent to have, according to EUregulations

Public Accounts Committee

Public Accounts Committee /pblik

House of Commons which examines thespending of each department and ministrypublic company

public company /pblik kmp(ə)ni/

noun same as public limited company

public debt

public debt /pblik det/ noun themoney that a government or a set of govern-ments owes

public deposits

public deposits /pblik di|pɒzits/

plu-ral noun in the United Kingdom, the ment’s credit monies held at the Bank ofEngland

govern-public expenditure

public expenditure /pblik ik|

or central governmentpublic finance

public finance /pblik fainns/ noun

the raising of money by governments bytaxes or borrowing, and the spending of itpublic funds

public funds /pblik fndz/ plural

noun government money available forexpenditure

publicity budget

publicity budget /p| /

noun money allowed for expenditure onpublicity

public limited company

public limited company /pblik

whose shares can be bought on the StockExchange Abbreviation Plc, PLC, plc.Also called public company

publicly held company

publicly held company /pblikli held

by a few shareholders or its directors, butwhich is quoted on the Stock Exchange andwhich allows the public to hold a few shares

179 pyramid selling

public offering

public offering /pblik ɒf(ə)riŋ/ noun

an offering of new shares in a corporation

for sale to the public as a way of launching

the corporation on the Stock Exchange

public ownership

public ownership /pblik əυnəʃip/

noun a situation in which the government

owns a business, i.e where an industry is

nationalised

public placing

public placing /pblik pleisiŋ/, public

placement /pblik pleismənt/ noun an

act of offering a new issue of shares to

investing institutions, though not to private

investors in general

public sector

public sector /pblik sektə/ noun

nationalised industries and services 쑗 a

report on wage rises in the public sector or

on public-sector wage settlements Also

called government sector

Public Sector Borrowing Requirement

Public Sector Borrowing

which a government has to borrow to pay for

its own spending Abbreviation PSBR

public spending

public spending /pblik spendiŋ/

noun spending by the government or by

local authorities

Public Trustee

Public Trustee /pblik tr|sti/ noun

an official who is appointed as a trustee of an

individual’s property

published accounts

published accounts /pbliʃit ə|

com-pany which have been prepared and audited

and then must be published by sending to the

shareholders and other interested parties

pump priming

pump priming /pmp praimiŋ/ noun

government investment in new projects

which it hopes will benefit the economy

purchase book

purchase book /ptʃis bυk/ noun a

book in which purchases are recorded

purchase daybook

purchase daybook /ptʃis deibυk/,

purchases daybook /ptʃisiz deibυk/

noun a book which records the purchases

made each day

purchase invoice

purchase invoice /ptʃis invɔis/

noun an invoice received by a purchaser

from a seller

purchase ledger

a book in which purchases are recorded

purchase order

purchase order /ptʃis ɔdə/ noun an

official order made out by a purchasing

department for goods which a company

wants to buy 쑗 We cannot supply you

with-out a purchase order number.

purchase order lead time

purchase order lead time /ptʃis

the placing of an order for raw materials or

parts and their being delivered

purchase price

purchase price /ptʃis prais/ noun aprice paid for something

purchase requisition

purchase requisition /ptʃis rekwi|

depart-ment within an organisation to its ing department to buy goods or services,stating the kind and quantity required, andforming the basis of a purchase orderpurchase tax

purchas-purchase tax /ptʃis tks/ noun a taxpaid on things which are bought

purchasing department

purchasing department /ptʃisiŋ di|

which deals with the buying of stock, rawmaterials, equipment, etc

purchasing manager

purchasing manager /ptʃisiŋ

/ noun the head of a purchasingdepartment

purchasing officer

purchasing officer /ptʃisiŋ ɒfisə/

noun a person in a company or organisationwho is responsible for buying stock, rawmaterials, equipment, etc

purchasing power

purchasing power /ptʃisiŋ paυə/

noun the quantity of goods which can bebought by a particular group of people orwith a particular sum of money 쑗 the pur- chasing power of the school market 쑗 The purchasing power of the pound has fallen over the last five years.

pure endowment

pure endowment /pjυər in|daυmənt/

noun a monetary gift the use of which isstrictly prescribed by the donor

put down phrasal verb 1. to make a deposit

쑗 to put down money on a house 2. to write

an item in a ledger or an account book 쑗 to

put down a figure for expenses

put up phrasal verb 1.왍 who put up the money for the shop? who provided the in-

vestment money for the shop to start? 왍 to put something up for sale to advertise that

something is for sale 쑗 When he retired he decided to put his town flat up for sale. 2. toincrease something, to make somethinghigher 쑗 The shop has put up all its prices

by 5%.

put option

put option /pυt ɒpʃən/ noun an option

to sell a specified number of shares at a ified price within a specified period of time.Also called put

spec-PV

PV abbreviation present valuepyramid selling

pyramid selling /pirəmid seliŋ/ noun

an illegal way of selling goods or ments to the public, where each selling agentpays for the franchise to sell the product orservice, and sells that right on to otheragents together with stock, so that in the endthe person who makes the most money is theoriginal franchiser, and sub-agents or inves-tors may lose all their investments

invest-pyramid selling 180

‘…much of the population had committed

their life savings to get-rich-quick pyramid

investment schemes – where newcomers

pay the original investors until the moneyruns out – which inevitably collapsed’

[Times]

qualification

qualification /kwɒlifi|keiʃ(ə)n/ noun a

document or some other formal proof of the

fact that someone has successfully

com-pleted a specialised course of study or has

acquired a skill 쑗 You must have the right

qualifications for the job 쑗 Job-hunting is

difficult if you have no qualifications.

‘…personnel management is not an

activ-ity that can ever have just one set of

quali-fications as a requirement for entry into it’

qualified /kwɒlifaid/ adjective 1. having

passed special examinations in a subject 쑗

She is a qualified accountant 쑗 We have

appointed a qualified designer to supervise

the decorating of the new reception area. 2.

with some reservations or conditions 쑗

qualified acceptance of a contract 쑗 The

plan received qualified approval from the

board.

‘…applicants will be professionally

quali-fied and ideally have a degree in

Com-merce and postgraduate management

qualifications’ [Australian Financial

Review]

qualified acceptance of a bill

qualified acceptance of a bill

agreement to pay a bill of exchange

pro-vided that certain conditions are met

qualified accounts

qualified accounts /kwɒlifaid ə|

been noted by the auditors because they

con-tain something with which the auditors do

not agree

qualified domestic trust

qualified domestic trust /kwɒlifaid

non-citizen spouse of a US non-citizen, affording tax

advantages at the time of the citizen’s death

qualified valuer

qualified valuer /kwɒlifaid vljυə/

noun a person conducting a valuation who

holds a recognised and relevant professional

qualification and has recent tion experience, and sufficient knowledge ofthe state of the market, with reference to thelocation and category of the tangible fixedasset being valued

post-qualifica-qualifying distribution

qualifying distribution /kwɒlifaiiŋ

div-idend, or other distribution of profits, thatwas subject, in the UK, to advance corpora-tion tax before it was scrapped in 1999qualifying period

qualifying period /kwɒlifaiiŋ piəriəd/

noun a time which has to pass before thing or someone qualifies for something,e.g a grant or subsidy 쑗 There is a six- month qualifying period before you can get

some-a grsome-ant from the locsome-al some-authority.

qualifying shares

qualifying shares /kwɒlifaiiŋ ʃeəz/

plural noun the number of shares you need

to earn to get a bonus issue or to be a director

of the company, etc

qualitative factors

qualitative factors /kwɒlitətiv

business decision but cannot be expressednumerically

quality assurance

quality assurance /kwɒliti ə|ʃυərəns/

noun the procedures that a company uses toensure compliance with a quality standardquality control

quality control /kwɒliti kən|trəυl/

noun the process of making sure that thequality of a product is good

quality costs

quality costs /kwɒliti kɒsts/ plural

noun costs incurred when goods produced

or services delivered fail to meet qualitystandards

quantifiable /kwɒntifaiəb(ə)l/ adjective

possible to quantify 쑗 The effect of the change in the discount structure is not quan- tifiable.

quantitative factors 182

quantitative factors

quantitative factors /kwɒntitətiv

business decision but cannot be expressed

numerically

quantity discount

quantity discount /kwɒntiti

who buy large quantities

quantum meruit

quantum meruit /kwntυm meruit/

phrase a Latin phrase meaning ‘as much as

has been earned’

quarter

quarter /kwɔtə/ noun 1. one of four

equal parts (25%) 쑗 She paid only a quarter

of the list price. 2. a period of three months

쑗 The instalments are payable at the end of

each quarter.

‘…corporate profits for the first quarter

showed a 4 per cent drop from last year’s

final three months’ [Financial Times]

‘…economists believe the economy is

picking up this quarter and will do better

still in the second half of the year’ [Sunday

Times]

quarter day

quarter day /kwɔtə dei/ noun a day at

the end of a quarter, when rents, fees etc

should be paid

quarterly

quarterly /kwɔtəli/ adjective, adverb

happening once every three months 쑗 There

is a quarterly charge for electricity 쑗 The

bank sends us a quarterly statement 쑗 We

agreed to pay the rent quarterly or on a

quarterly basis.

quarterly report

quarterly report /kwɔtəli ri|pɔt/

noun the results of a corporation, produced

each quarter

quartile

quartile /kwɔtail/ noun one of a series of

three figures below which 25%, 50% or 75%

of the total falls

quasi-quasi- /kweizai/ prefix almost or which

seems like 쑗 a quasi-official body

quasi-loan

quasi-loan /kweizai ləυn/ noun an

agreement between two parties where one

agrees to pay the other’s debts, provided that

the second party agrees to reimburse the first

at some later date

quasi-public corporation

quasi-public corporation /kweizai

institu-tion which is privately owned, but which

serves a public function, such as the Federal

National Mortgage Association

queue

queue /kju/ noun 1. a line of people

wait-ing one behind the other 쑗 to form a queue

or to join a queue 쑗 Queues formed at the

doors of the bank when the news spread

about its possible collapse (NOTE: The US

term is line.) 2. a series of documents such

as orders or application forms which are

dealt with in order쐽 verb to form a line one

after the other for something 쑗 When food

was rationed, people had to queue for bread.

쑗 We queued for hours to get tickets 쑗 A list

of companies queueing to be launched on the Stock Exchange 쑗 The candidates queued outside the interviewing room.

quick asset

quick asset /kwik set/ noun an assetthat can be converted into cash relativelyquickly

quid pro quo

quid pro quo /kwid prəυ kwəυ/ noun

money paid or an action carried out in returnfor something 쑗 She agreed to repay the loan early, and as a quid pro quo the bank released the collateral.

‘Canada agreed to a new duty-free quota

of 600,000 tonnes a year’ [Globe and Mail (Toronto)]

quota system

quota system /kwəυtə sistəm/ noun 1.

a system where imports or supplies are ulated by fixed maximum amounts 2. anarrangement for distribution which allowseach distributor only a specific number ofitems

reg-quotation

quotation /kwəυ|teiʃ(ə)n/ noun an mate of how much something will cost 쑗

esti-They sent in their quotation for the job 쑗

Our quotation was much lower than all the others 쑗 We accepted the lowest quotation.

quote

quote /kwəυt/ verb 1. to repeat words or areference number used by someone else 쑗

He quoted figures from the annual report 쑗

She replied, quoting the number of the account. 2. to estimate what a cost or price

is likely to be 쑗 to quote a price for ing stationery 쑗 Their prices are always quoted in dollars 쑗 He quoted me a price of

supply-£1,026 쐽 noun an estimate of how muchsomething will cost (informal) 쑗 to give

someone a quote for supplying computers 쑗

We have asked for quotes for refitting the shop 쑗 Her quote was the lowest of three.

quoted company

can be bought or sold on the Stock Exchangequoted investments

quoted investments /kwəυtid in|

are listed on a stock exchangequote-driven system

quote-driven system /kwəυt

work-183 quoted shares

ing a stock market, where marketmakers

quote a price for a stock Compare

order-driven system

quoted shares

quoted shares /kwəυtid ʃeəz/,

quoted stocks plural noun shares whichcan be bought or sold on the Stock Exchange

racket

racket /rkit/ noun an illegal deal which

makes a lot of money 쑗 She runs a cut-price

ticket racket.

rack rent

rack rent /rk rent/ noun a very high rent

raise

raise /reiz/ noun US an increase in salary

쑗 He asked the boss for a raise 쑗 She got

her raise last month (NOTE: The UK term is

rise.) 쐽 verb 1. to increase or to make higher

쑗 The government has raised the tax levels.

쑗 The company raised its dividend by 10%.

쑗 This increase in production will raise the

standard of living in the area. 2. to obtain

money or to organise a loan 쑗 The company

is trying to raise the capital to fund its

expansion programme 쑗 The government

raises more money by indirect taxation than

by direct.

‘…the company said yesterday that its

recent share issue has been

oversub-scribed, raising A$225.5m’ [Financial

Times]

‘…investment trusts can raise capital, but

this has to be done as a company does, by

a rights issue of equity’ [Investors

Chron-icle]

‘…over the past few weeks, companies

raising new loans from international banks

have been forced to pay more’ [Financial

Times]

rally

rally /rli/ noun a rise in price when the

trend has been downwards 쑗 Shares staged

a rally on the Stock Exchange 쑗 After a

brief rally shares fell back to a new low 쐽

verb to rise in price, when the trend has been

downwards 쑗 Shares rallied on the news of

the latest government figures.

‘…when Japan rallied, it had no difficulty

in surpassing its previous all-time high,

and this really stretched the price-earnings

ratios into the stratosphere’ [Money

Observer]

‘…bad news for the US economy

ulti-mately may have been the cause of a late

rally in stock prices yesterday’ [Wall

random sample

random sample /rndəm sɑmpəl/

noun a sample taken without any selectionrange

range / / noun 1. a series of items 쑗

Their range of products or product range is too narrow 쑗 There are a whole range of alternatives for the new salary scheme. 2. ascale of items from a low point to a high one

왍 range of prices the difference between

the highest and lowest price for a share orbond over a period of time

rank

rank /rŋk/ noun a position in a company

or an organisation, especially one whichshows how important someone is relative toothers 쑗 All managers are of equal rank 쑗

Promotion means moving up from a lower rank 쐽 verb 1. to classify in order of impor-tance 쑗 Candidates are ranked in order of their test results. 2. to be in a position 쑗 The non-voting shares rank equally with the vot- ing shares 쑗 Deferred ordinary shares do not rank for dividend.

rate

rate /reit/ noun 1. the money charged fortime worked or work completed 2. anamount of money paid, e.g as interest ordividend, shown as a percentage 3. the value

of one currency against another 쑗 What is

today’s rate or the current rate for the lar? 4. an amount, number or speed com-pared with something else 쑗 the rate of increase in redundancies 쑗 The rate of

dol-absenteeism or The dol-absenteeism rate always increases in fine weather.

rateable value

rateable value /reitəb(ə)l vlju/ noun

the value of a property as a basis for lating local taxes

calcu-rate of exchange

rate of exchange /reit əv iks| /

noun same as exchange rate 쑗 The current

rate of exchange is $1.60 to the pound.

rate of interest

rate of interest /reit əv intrəst/ noun

same as interest rate

185 real return after tax

rate of return

rate of return /reit əv ri|tn/ noun the

amount of interest or dividend which comes

from an investment, shown as a percentage

of the money invested

rate of sales

rate of sales /reit əv seilz/ noun the

speed at which units are sold

rates

rates /reits/ plural noun local UK taxes

formerly levied on property in the UK and

now replaced by the council tax

rating

rating /reitiŋ/ noun 1. the act of giving

something a value, or the value given 2. the

valuing of property for local taxes

rating agency

an organisation which gives a rating to

com-panies or other organisations issuing bonds

rating officer

rating officer /reitiŋ ɒfisə/ noun an

official in a local authority who decides the

rateable value of a commercial property

ratio

ratio /reiʃiəυ/ noun a proportion or

quan-tity of something compared to something

else 쑗 the ratio of successes to failures 쑗

Our product outsells theirs by a ratio of two

to one 쑗 With less manual work available,

the ratio of employees to managers is

decreasing.

ratio analysis

ratio analysis /reiʃiəυ ə|nləsis/ noun

a method of analysing the performance of a

company by showing the figures in its

accounts as ratios and comparing them with

those of other companies

raw materials

raw materials /rɔ mə|tiəriəlz/ plural

noun basic materials which have to be

treated or processed in some way before

they can be used, e.g wood, iron ore or

readjust /riə| / verb to adjust

some-thing again or in a new way, or to change in

response to new conditions 쑗 to readjust

prices to take account of the rise in the costs

of raw materials 쑗 to readjust salary scales

쑗 Share prices readjusted quickly to the

news of the devaluation.

readjustment

readjustment /riə| / noun an

act of readjusting 쑗 a readjustment in

pric-ing 쑗 After the devaluation there was a

period of readjustment in the exchange

rates.

ready cash

ready cash /redi kʃ/ noun money

which is immediately available for payment

ready money

ready money /redi mni/ noun cash or

money which is immediately available

real asset

real asset /riəl set/ noun a

non-mova-ble asset such as land or a building

real earnings

real earnings /riəl niŋz/ plural noun

income which is available for spending aftertax and other contributions have beendeducted, corrected for inflation Alsocalled real income, real wages

$5 million’ [Duns Business Month]

real estate agent

real estate agent /riəl i| /,

real estate broker noun US a person whosells property for customers

real estate investment trust

real estate investment trust /riəl i|

trust company which invests only in erty Abbreviation REIT

prop-real exchange rate

real exchange rate /riəl iks|

adjusted for inflationreal income

real income /riəl inkm/ noun same as

real earnings

real interest rate

real interest rate /riəl intrəst reit/

noun an interest rate after taking inflationinto account

real investment

real investment /riəl in|vestmənt/

noun the purchase of assets such as land,property, and plant and machinery asopposed to the acquisition of securitiesrealisation

realisation /riəlai|zeiʃ(ə)n/, realization

noun the act of making real 왍 the tion of a project putting a project into

realisa-action 쑗 The plan moved a stage nearer

realisation when the contracts were signed.

realisation concept

realisation concept /riəlai|zeiʃ(ə)n

in value should only be recognised when theassets in question are realised by being sold

to an independent purchaserrealise

realise /riəlaiz/, realize verb 1. to makesomething become real 왍 to realise a

project or a plan to put a project or a plan

into action 2. to sell for money 쑗 The

com-pany was running out of cash, so the board decided to realise some property or assets 쑗

The sale realised £100,000 왍 realised gain

or loss a gain or loss made when assets are

soldrealised profit

realised profit /riəlaizd prɒfit/ noun

an actual profit made when something issold, as opposed to paper profit

real rate of return

real rate of return /riəl reit əv ri|tn/

noun an actual rate of return, calculated aftertaking inflation into account

real return after tax

real return after tax /riəl ri|tn ɑftə

deducting tax and inflation

realty 186

realty

realty /riəlti/ noun property or real estate

real value

real value /riəl vlju/ noun a value of

an investment which is kept the same, e.g by

index-linking

real wages

real wages / / plural noun

same as real earnings

reassess

reassess /riə|ses/ verb to assess again 쑗

The manager was asked to reassess the

department staff, after the assessments were

badly done by the supervisors.

reassessment

reassessment /riə|sesmənt/ noun a

new assessment

rebate

rebate /ribeit/ noun 1. a reduction in the

amount of money to be paid 쑗 We are

offer-ing a 10% rebate on selected goods. 2.

money returned to someone because they

have paid too much 쑗 She got a tax rebate at

the end of the year.

recapitalisation

recapitalisation /ri|kpit(ə)lai|

structure of a company as when new shares

are issued, especially when undertaken to

avoid the company going into liquidation

receipt

receipt /ri|sit/ noun 1. a piece of paper

showing that money has been paid or that

something has been received 쑗 He kept the

customs receipt to show that he had paid

duty on the goods 쑗 She lost her taxi

receipt 쑗 Keep the receipt for items

pur-chased in case you need to change them

later. 2. the act of receiving something 쑗

Goods will be supplied within thirty days of

receipt of order 쑗 Invoices are payable

within thirty days of receipt 쑗 On receipt of

the notification, the company lodged an

appeal 쐽 verb to stamp or to sign a

docu-ment to show that it has been received, or to

stamp an invoice to show that it has been

paid 쑗 Receipted invoices are filed in the

ring binder.

receipts

receipts /ri|sits/ plural noun money taken

in sales 쑗 to itemise receipts and

expendi-ture 쑗 Receipts are down against the same

period of last year.

‘…the public sector borrowing

require-ment is kept low by treating the receipts

from selling public assets as a reduction in

borrowing’ [Economist]

‘…gross wool receipts for the selling

sea-son to end June appear likely to top $2

bil-lion’ [Australian Financial Review]

receipts and payments account

receipts and payments account /ri|

of cash transactions during a period It is

used in place of an income and expenditure

account when it is not considered

appropri-ate to distinguish between capital and

reve-nue transactions or to include accruals

receipts and payments basis

receipts and payments basis /ri|sits

method in which receipts and payments areaccounted for when the money is actuallyreceived or paid out, not necessarily whenthey are entered in the books Also called

cash basis

receivable

receivable /ri|sivəb(ə)l/ adjective able to

be receivedreceivables

receivables /ri|sivəb(ə)lz/ plural noun

money which is owed to a companyreceive

receive /ri|siv/ verb to get somethingwhich is given or delivered to you 쑗 We

received the payment ten days ago 쑗 The employees have not received any salary for six months.

receiver

receiver /ri|sivə/ noun same as official receiver

Receiver of Revenue

Receiver of Revenue /ri|sivə əv

South African Revenue Service as a wholereceiving

receiving /ri|siviŋ/ noun an act of gettingsomething which has been deliveredreceiving clerk

receiving clerk /ri|siviŋ klɑk/ noun anofficial who works in a receiving officereceiving department

receiving department /ri|siviŋ di|

which deals with incoming goods or ments

pay-receiving office

receiving office /ri|siviŋ ɒfis/ noun anoffice where goods or payments are receivedreceiving order

receiving order /ri|siviŋ ɔdə/ noun anorder from a court appointing an officialreceiver to a company

recession

recession /ri|seʃ(ə)n/ noun a periodwhere there is a decline in trade or in theeconomy 쑗 The recession has reduced prof- its in many companies 쑗 Several firms have

closed factories because of the recession.

reciprocal

reciprocal /ri|siprək(ə)l/ adjective done

by one person, company, or country toanother one, which does the same thing inreturn 쑗 We signed a reciprocal agreement

or a reciprocal contract with a Russian pany.

com-reciprocal allocation method

reciprocal allocation method /ri|

method by which service department costsare allocated to production departmentsreciprocal holdings

reciprocal holdings /ri|siprək(ə)l

two companies own shares in each other toprevent takeover bids

reciprocal trade

reciprocal trade /ri|siprək(ə)l treid/

noun trade between two countriesreciprocate

reciprocate /ri|siprəkeit/ verb to do thesame thing for someone as that person has

187 recycle

done for you 쑗 They offered us an exclusive

agency for their cars and we reciprocated

with an offer of the agency for our buses.

reckon

reckon /rekən/ verb to calculate

some-thing 쑗 to reckon the costs at £25,000 쑗 We

reckon the loss to be over £1m 쑗 They

reckon the insurance costs to be too high.

recognise

recognise /rekənaiz/ verb to record an

item in an account or other financial

state-ment 왍 statement of total recognised gains

and losses financial statement showing

changes in shareholders’ equity during an

accounting period (see FRS 3)

recognised professional body

recognised professional body

professional body which is in charge of the

regulation of the conduct of its members and

is recognised by the FSA Abbreviation

RPB

recognised qualification

recognised qualification

qualification that employers and

profes-sional bodies accept as worthwhile and valid

reconcile

reconcile /rekənsail/ verb to make two

financial accounts or statements agree 쑗 She

is trying to reconcile one account with

another or to reconcile the two accounts.

reconciliation

reconciliation /rekənsili|eiʃ(ə)n/,

rec-oncilement /rekənsailmənt/ noun the act

of making two accounts or statements agree

reconciliation statement

reconciliation statement /rekənsili|

which explains how two accounts can be

made to agree

reconstruction

reconstruction /rikən|strkʃən/ noun

1. the process of building again 쑗 The

eco-nomic reconstruction of an area after a

dis-aster. 2. new way of organising

record

record /rekɔd/ noun 1. a report of

some-thing which has happened 쑗 The chairman

signed the minutes as a true record of the

last meeting 쑗 She has a very poor

time-keeping record 왍 for the record or to keep

the record straight in order that everyone

knows what the real facts of the matter are 쑗

For the record, I should like to say that these

sales figures have not yet been checked by

the sales department. 2. a description of

what has happened in the past 쑗 the

sales-person’s record of service or service record

쑗 the company’s record in industrial

rela-tions 3. a success which is better than

any-thing before 쑗 Last year was a record year

for the company 쑗 Our top sales rep has set

a new record for sales per call.

record book

record book /rekɔd bυk/ noun a book

in which minutes of meetings are kept

We find from our records that our invoice number 1234 has not been paid.

recourse /ri|kɔs/ noun a right of a lender

to compel a borrower to repay money rowed

bor-recover

recover /ri|kvə/ verb 1. to get backsomething which has been lost 쑗 to recover damages from the driver of the car 쑗 to start

a court action to recover property 쑗 He never recovered his money 쑗 The initial investment was never recovered. 2. to getbetter, to rise 쑗 The market has not recov-

ered from the rise in oil prices 쑗 The stock market fell in the morning, but recovered during the afternoon.

recoverable amount

recoverable amount /ri|kv(ə)rəb(ə)l

the price it would fetch if sold, or its value tothe company when used, whichever is thelarger figure

recovery

recovery /ri|kv(ə)ri/ noun 1. the act ofgetting back something which has been lost

쑗 to start an action for recovery of property

쑗 We are aiming for the complete recovery

of the money invested. 2. a movementupwards of shares or of the economy 쑗 signs

of recovery after a slump 쑗 The economy staged a recovery.

rectification

rectification /rektifi|keiʃ(ə)n/ noun

correctionrectify

rectify /rektifai/ verb to correct thing, to make something right 쑗 to rectify

some-an entry (NOTE: rectifies – rectifying – tified)

rec-recurrent

recurrent /ri|krənt/ adjective happeningagain and again 쑗 a recurrent item of

expenditure 쑗 There is a recurrent problem

in supplying this part.

recurring payments

recurring payments /ri|kriŋ

mortgage interest or payments on a hire chase agreement, which are made eachmonth

pur-recycle

recycle /ri|saik(ə)l/ verb to take wastematerial and process it so that it can be usedagain

red 188

red

red /red/ noun the colour of debit or

over-drawn balances in some bank statements 왍

in the red showing a debit or loss 쑗 My

bank account is in the red 쑗 The company

went into the red in 1998 쑗 The company is

out of the red for the first time since 1990.

Red Book

Red Book /red bυk/ noun a document

published on Budget Day, with the text of

the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s financial

statement and budget

redeem

redeem /ri|dim/ verb to pay off a loan or

a debt 쑗 to redeem a mortgage 쑗 to redeem

a debt

redeemable

redeemable /ri|diməb(ə)l/ adjective

referring to a bond which can be sold for

cash

redeemable government stock

redeemable government stock /ri|

stock which can be redeemed for cash at

some time in the future In the UK, only the

War Loan is irredeemable

redeemable preference share

redeemable preference share /ri|

pref-erence share which must be bought back by

the company at an agreed date and for an

agreed price

redeemable security

redeemable security /ri|diməb(ə)l si|

redeemed at its face value at a specific date

redemption date /ri|dempʃən deit/

noun a date on which a loan or debt is due to

be repaid

redemption value

redemption value /ri|dempʃən vlju/

noun the value of a security when redeemed

redemption yield

redemption yield /ri|dempʃən jild/

noun a yield on a security including interest

and its redemption value

redistribute

redistribute /ridi|stribjut/ verb to

move items, work or money to different

areas or people 쑗 The government aims to

redistribute wealth by taxing the rich and

giving grants to the poor 쑗 The orders have

been redistributed among the company’s

factories.

redistributed cost

redistributed cost /ridi|stribjυtid

kɒst/ noun a cost that has been reassigned to

a different department within an

organisa-tion

redistribution of wealth

redistribution of wealth

proc-ess of sharing wealth among the whole

pop-ulation

reduce

reduce /ri|djus/ verb to make something

smaller or lower 쑗 They have reduced prices

in all departments 쑗 We were expecting the

government to reduce taxes not to increase them 쑗 The company reduced output

because of a fall in demand 쑗 The ment’s policy is to reduce inflation to 5%.

govern-reduced

reduced /ri|djust/ adjective lower 쑗

Reduced prices have increased unit sales 쑗

Prices have fallen due to a reduced demand for the goods.

reducing balance method

reducing balance method /ri|djusiŋ

depreci-ating assets, where the asset is depreciated at

a constant percentage of its cost each year.Also called declining balance method

redundancy

redundancy /ri|dndənsi/ noun the missal of a person whose job no longerneeds to be done

dis-redundancy payment

redundancy payment /ri|dndənsi

employee to compensate for losing his orher job

redundancy rebate

redundancy rebate /ri|dndənsi

com-pany to compensate for redundancy ments made

re-exportation /ri ekspɔ|teiʃ(ə)n/

noun the exporting of goods which havebeen imported

refer

refer /ri|f/ verb 왍 ‘refer to drawer’

words written on a cheque which a bankrefuses to pay and returns it to the personwho wrote it Abbreviation R/D

reference

reference /ref(ə)rəns/ noun 1. the ess of mentioning or dealing with something

proc-쑗 with reference to your letter of May 25th

2. a series of numbers or letters which make

it possible to find a document which hasbeen filed 쑗 our reference: PC/MS 1234 쑗

Thank you for your letter (reference 1234).

3. a written report on someone’s character orability 쑗 to write someone a reference or to give someone a reference 쑗 to ask appli-

cants to supply references 왍 to ask a

com-pany for trade references or for bank

ref-erences to ask for reports from traders or a

bank on the company’s financial status andreputation