action of guaranteeing to purchase shares in a new issue if no one pur-chases them underwriting fee / ndəratŋ fi/ nouna fee paid by a company to the un-derwriters for guaranteeing the
Trang 1it is now not as vulnerable as other markets’
[Money Observer]
underrate/ ndəret/ verbto value
someone or something less highly than
they should be쑗Do not underrate the
strength of the competition in the
Euro-pean market.쑗The power of the yen is
underrated.
underreact/ ndərikt/verbnot to
react strongly enough to a situation쑗
The markets underreacted to the oil
crisis.
undersell / ndəsel/ verb to sell
more cheaply than someone쑗to
under-sell a competitor 왍 the company is
never undersold no other company
sells goods as cheaply as this one
undersigned / ndəsand/ noun a
person who has signed a letter왍we, the
undersigned we, the people who have
signed below
underspend / ndəspend/ verb to
spend less than you should have spent or
were allowed to spend 왍 he has
underspent his budget he has spent
less than was allowed in the budget
understanding / ndəstndŋ/
nouna private agreement쑗to come to
an understanding about the divisions of
the market
understate / ndəstet/ verb to
make something seem less than it really
is쑗The company accounts understate
the real profit.
undersubscribed /
ndəs b-skrabd/adjectivereferring to a share
issue where applications are not made
for all the shares on offer, and part of the
issue remains with the underwriters
undertake/ ndətek/verbto agree
to do something쑗They are undertaki쑗
We asked the research unit to undertake
an investigation of the market.쑗They
have undertaken not to sell into our
ter-ritory.쑗The union has undertaken not
to call a strike without further
negotia-tion with the management. (NOTE:
undertaken)
undertaking / ndətekŋ/ noun1.
a business쑗He is the MD of a large
commercial undertaking.2. a promise,
especially a legally binding one쑗They
have given us a written undertaking not
to sell their products in competition with
ours.
undervaluation /
ndəvljυ-eʃ(ə)n/nounthe state of being valued,
or the act of valuing something, at lessthan the true worth
undervalued / ndəvljud/adjective not valued highly enough 쑗
The dollar is undervalued on the eign exchanges. 쑗 The properties are undervalued on the company’s balance sheet.
for-‘…in terms of purchasing power, the dollar is considerably undervalued, while the US trade deficit is declining month by month’
[Financial Weekly]
underwater / ndəwɔtə/ adjectivewhich has lost value
underwater loan / ndəwɔtələυn/ nouna loan which is worth lessthan its book value, as when an itembought with a loan loses its value on themarket
twenty grams less than it should
underwrite/ ndərat/verb1.to cept responsibility for something 왍 to underwrite a share issue to guarantee
ac-that a share issue will be sold by ing to buy all shares which are not sub-scribed쑗The issue was underwritten by three underwriting companies.2.to in-sure, to cover a risk쑗to underwrite an insurance policy3.to agree to pay forcosts쑗The government has underwrit- ten the development costs of the project.
agree-(NOTE: underwriting – underwrote – has underwritten)
‘…under the new program, mortgage brokers are allowed to underwrite mortgages and get a
much higher fee’ [Forbes Magazine]
underwriter/ ndəratə/nouna son or company that underwrites a shareissue or an insurance
per-COMMENT : When a major company tion or share issue or loan is prepared, a group of companies (such as merchant banks) will form a syndicate to underwrite the flotation: the syndicate will be orga- nized by the ‘lead underwriter’, together with a group of main underwriters; these
flota-in turn will ask others (‘sub-underwriters’)
Trang 2action of guaranteeing to purchase
shares in a new issue if no one
pur-chases them
underwriting fee / ndəratŋ fi/
nouna fee paid by a company to the
un-derwriters for guaranteeing the purchase
of new shares in that company
underwriting syndicate
/ ndəratŋ sndkət/ noun a group
of underwriters who insure a large risk
undischarged bankrupt
/ ndstʃɑd$d bŋkr pt/ noun a
person who has been declared bankrupt
and has not been released from that state
undistributed profit
/ ndstrbjutd prɒft/nouna profit
which has not been distributed as
divi-dends to shareholders
unearned income/ n%nd nk m/
nounsame asinvestment income
uneconomic / nikənɒmk/
adjectivewhich does not make a
com-mercial profit 왍 it is an uneconomic
proposition it will not be commercially
profitable
uneconomic rent / nikənɒmk
rent/nouna rent which is not enough
to cover costs
unemployed/ nmplɔd/adjective
not having any paid work쐽noun왍the
unemployed the people without any
jobs
unemployment / nmplɔmənt/
nounthe state of not having any work
‘…tax advantages directed toward small
businesses will help create jobs and reduce the
unemployment rate’ [Toronto Star]
unemployment benefit /
nm-plɔmənt benft/ noun a payment
from the government made to someone
who is unemployed (NOTE: The US
term is unemployment
compensa-tion.)
unemployment pay /
nm-plɔmənt pe/ nounmoney given by
the government to someone who is
unemployed
unemployment rate /
nm-plɔmənt ret/ noun the number of
people out of work, shown as a
percent-age of the total number of people
avail-able for work Also called rate of
unemployment
unencumbered/ nnk mbəd/jectivereferring to property which is notmortgaged
ad-unfair competition / nfeə
kɒmpətʃ(ə)n/ noun the practice
of trying to do better than anothercompany by using techniques such asimporting foreign goods at very lowprices or by wrongly criticising a com-petitor’s products
unfavourable / nfev(ə)rəb(ə)l/adjectivenot favourable(NOTE: The US
spelling is unfavorable.)왍 able balance of trade a situation where
unfavour-a country imports more thunfavour-an it exports왍
unfavourable exchange rate an
ex-change rate which gives an amount offoreign currency for the home currencywhich is not good for trade쑗The unfa- vourable exchange rate hit the country’s exports.
uniform business rate/junfɔm
bzns ret/nouna tax levied on ness property which is the same percent-age for the whole country Abbreviation
busi-UBR unincorporated/ nnkɔpəretd/adjective referring to a business whichhas not been made into a company (i.e.which is operating as a partnership or asole trader)
unissued capital/ nʃud kptl/noun capital which a company isauthorised to issue but has not issued asshares
unit/junt/noun1.a single productfor sale2.a single share in a unit trust
unitary regulator /junt(ə)ri
rejυletə/ noun a single regulator,where before there were several
Unitas index an index of prices onthe Helsinki Stock Exchange
unit cost/junt kɒst/nounthe cost
of one item, i.e the total product costsdivided by the number of units produced
United Nations /junatd
neʃ(ə)nz/nounan organisation whichlinks almost all the countries of theworld to promote good relations be-tween them
Trang 3unitise /juntaz/, unitize verb to
form investments into units which are
sold to the public
unit-linked insurance /junt
lŋkd nʃυərəns/ noun an insurance
policy which is linked to the security of
units in a unit trust or fund
unit of account/junt əv əkaυnt/
nouna standard unit used in financial
transactions among members of a group,
such as SDRs in the IMF
unit price /junt pras/ noun the
price of one item
unit trust/junt tr st/nounan
or-ganisation which takes money from
small investors and invests it in stocks
and shares for them under a trust deed,
the investment being in the form of
shares (or units) in the trust(NOTE: The
US term is mutual fund.)
COMMENT : Unit trusts have to be
author-ised by the Department of Trade and
In-dustry before they can offer units for sale
to the public, although unauthorised
pri-vate unit trusts exist.
unlawful / nlɔf(ə)l/ adjective
against the law, not legal
unlimited/ nlmtd/adjectivewith
no limits쑗The bank offered him
unlim-ited credit.
unlimited liability/ nlmtd
laə-blti/ noun a situation where a sole
trader or each partner is responsible for
all a firm’s debts with no limit on the
amount each may have to pay
unlisted company / nlstd
k mp(ə)ni/ noun a company whose
shares are not listed on the stock
exchange
unlisted securities / nlstd
s-kjυərtiz/plural nounshares which are
not listed on the Stock Exchange
Unlisted Securities Market /
n-lstd skjυərtiz mɑkt/ noun
formerly, the market for buying and
selling shares which were not listed on
the main Stock Exchange, now replaced
by the Alternative Investment Market
(AIM) AbbreviationUSM
unload/ nləυd/verb1.to take goods
off a ship, lorry etc.쑗The ship is
un-loading at Hamburg. 쑗 We need a
fork-lift truck to unload the lorry.쑗We
unloaded the spare parts at Lagos.쑗
There are no unloading facilities for
container ships.2.to sell shares which
do not seem attractive쑗We tried to load our shareholding as soon as the company published its accounts.
un-unlock / nlɒk/ verb 왍 to unlock value to sell undervalued assets and so
increase the value of a company to itsshareholders
unpaid/ nped/adjectivenot paid
unpaid balance / nped bləns/noun a balance of a loan or invoicewhich still has to be paid after a partpayment or instalment payment hasbeen made
unpaid cheque / nped tʃek/nouna cheque which has been depos-ited but which is bounced by the bank
on which it is written, so the account ofthe person who should receive is notcredited
unpaid invoices/ nped nvɔsz/plural noun invoices which have notbeen paid
unprofitable / nprɒftəb(ə)l/ jectivenot profitable
ad-‘…the airline has already eliminated a number
of unprofitable flights’ [Duns Business Month]
unquoted shares / nkwəυtd
ʃeəz/plural nounshares which have noStock Exchange quotation
unrealised/ nrəlazd/, unrealized
adjectivenot sold to make a profit
unrealised capital gain /
n-rəlazd kpt(ə)l en/ noun aninvestment which is showing a profitbut has not been sold
unrealised profit / nrəlazd
prɒft/nounsame aspaper profit unredeemed pledge / nrdimd
pled$/ noun a pledge which the rower has not claimed back because hehas not paid back his loan
bor-unregistered / nred$stəd/ tivereferring to a company which hasnot been registered
adjec-unsecured creditor / nskjυəd
kredtə/nouna creditor who is owedmoney, but has no security from thedebtor for the debt
unsecured debt / nskjυəd det/nouna debt which is not guaranteed by
a charge on assets or by any collateral
unsecured loan/ nskjυəd ləυn/nouna loan made with no security
Trang 4unseen/ nsin/adverbnot seen왍to
buy something sight unseen to buy
something without having inspected it
unsettled / nset(ə)ld/ adjective
which changes often or which is upset
unstable/ nsteb(ə)l/adjective not
stable, changing frequently 쑗unstable
exchange rates
unsubsidised / ns bsdazd/,
unsubsidized adjective with no
subsidy
unsuccessful / nsəksesf(ə)l/
ad-jectivenot successful쑗an unsuccessful
businessman쑗The project was
expen-sive and unsuccessful. 쑗He made six
unsuccessful job applications before he
finally got a job.
unsuccessfully / nsəksesf(ə)li/
adverbwith no success쑗The company
unsuccessfully tried to break into the
South American market. 쑗 He
unsuc-cessfully applied for the job of
market-ing manager.
unweighted / nwetd/ adjective
without giving any extra value to a
cer-tain factor
up/ p/adverb,prepositionin or to a
higher position 쑗The inflation rate is
going up steadily. 쑗 Shares were up
slightly at the end of the day. 쑗 She
worked her way up to become sales
director.
upcoming / pk mŋ/ adjective
which will come in the near future 쑗
The company is banking on its
upcom-ing new drug to treat strokes.
update/ pdet/verbto revise
some-thing so that it is always up to date쑗
The figures are updated annually.
up front / p fr nt/ adverb in
advance
uplift/ plft/nounan increase쑗The
contract provides for an annual uplift of
charges.
up market/ p mɑkt/nouna stock
market which is rising or is at its highest
level쑗How your emerging growth fund
performs in a down market is just as
im-portant as in an up market.
upmarket/ p mɑkt/ adverb,
ad-jectivemore expensive or appealing to a
wealthy section of the population왍the
company has decided to move
upmarket the company has decided to
start to produce more luxury items
upscale/ pskel/adjectiveaimed atcustomers at the top end of thesocio-economic ladder, who arewell-educated and have higher incomes
upset price/ pset pras/nounthelowest price which the seller will accept
at an auction
upside potential / psad
pə-tenʃəl/nounthe possibility for a share
to increase in value (NOTE: The
oppo-site is downside risk.)
upstream / pstrim/ adjective ferring to the operations of a company atthe beginning of a process (as drillingfor oil as an operation of a petroleumcompany) Comparedownstream upswing / pswŋ/ noun an upwardmovement of share prices (NOTE: The
re-opposite is downswing.)
uptick/ ptk/noun USa price of ashare sold, which is higher than the pre-vious price
up to/ p tu/prepositionas far as, ashigh as 쑗We will buy at prices up to
£25.
upturn/ pt%n/nouna movement wards higher sales or profits 쑗an up- turn in the economy쑗an upturn in the market
to-upward/ pwəd/adjectivetowards ahigher position쑗an upward movement
upwards/ pwədz/adverbtowards ahigher position쑗The market moved up- wards after the news of the budget.
(NOTE: In the USA, upward is used as
both adjective and adverb.)
US , USA abbreviation United States(of America)
usenoun/jus/a way in which thing can be used왍directions for use
some-instructions on how to run a machine왍
to make use of something to use
some-thing왍in use being worked쑗The puter is in use twenty-four hours a day.
com-왍items for personal use items which a
person will use for himself, not on half of the company왍he has the use of
be-a compbe-any cbe-ar he hbe-as be-a compbe-any cbe-ar
which he uses privately쐽verb/juz/totake something, e.g a machine, a com-pany or a process, and work with it쑗
We use airmail for all our overseas respondence.쑗The photocopier is be- ing used all the time. 쑗 They use freelancers for most of their work.
Trang 5user/juzə/nouna person who uses
something
user-friendly/juzə frendli/
adjec-tivewhich a user finds easy to work쑗
user-friendly.
user’s guide/juzəz ad/, user’s
handbook /juzəz hndbυk/, user’s
manual /juzəz mnjυəl/ noun a
book showing someone how to use
something
USM abbreviation Unlisted Securities
Market
US Treasury bonds /ju es
tre$əri bɒndz/ plural nounbonds
is-sued by the US Treasury
usual /ju$υəl/ adjective normal or
ordinary 쑗 Our usual terms or usual
conditions are thirty days’ credit.쑗The
usual practice is to have the contract
signed by the MD.쑗The usual hours of work are from 9.30 to 5.30.
usurious /juzjυəriəs/ adjective ferring to usury 쑗 a usurious rate of interest
re-usury /ju$əri/ nounlending money
at high interest
utilisation /jutlazeʃ(ə)n/, zationnoun the act of making use ofsomething
utili-‘…control permits the manufacturer to react to changing conditions on the plant floor and to keep people and machines at a high level of
utilization’ [Duns Business Month]
utilise/jutlaz/, utilizeverbto usesomething
utility/jutlti/nouna public servicecompany, such as one that supplies wa-ter, gas or electricity or runs publictransport쑗Shares in utility companies
or utilities offer good dividends.
Trang 6vacant possession /vekənt
pə-zeʃ(ə)n/nounbeing able to occupy a
property immediately after buying it
be-cause it is empty쑗The property is to be
sold with vacant possession.
valorem/vəlɔrəm/noun쒁ad
valo-rem duty
valuable /vljυəb(ə)l/ adjective
which is worth a lot of money
valuation /vljueʃ(ə)n/ noun an
estimate of how much something is
worth쑗to ask for a valuation of a
prop-erty before making an offer for it왍to
buy a shop with stock at valuation
when buying a shop, to pay a price for
the stock which is equal to the value as
estimated by the valuer왍to purchase
stock at valuation to pay the price for
stock which it is valued at
value /vlju/ noun the amount of
money which something is worth쑗the
fall in the value of sterling 쑗 He
im-ported goods to the value of £2500.쑗
The valuer put the value of the stock at
£25,000.왍good value (for money) a
bargain, something which is worth the
price paid for it쑗That restaurant gives
value for money.쑗Buy that computer
now – it is very good value.쑗Holidays
in Italy are good value because of the
exchange rate.왍to rise or fall in value
to be worth more or less쐽verbto
esti-mate how much money something is
worth쑗He valued the stock at £25,000.
쑗We are having the jewellery valued
for insurance.
value added /vlju dd/ noun
the amount added to the value of a
prod-uct or service, being the difference
be-tween its cost and the amount received
when it is sold Also callednet output
Value Added Tax /vlju dd
tks/nounfull form ofVAT
value investing /vlju nvestŋ/
nounbasing investment strategy on the
value of a company rather than simply
on its share price
value investor /vlju nvestə/nouna person who buys shares for thevalue of the company
value-priced goods/vlju prast
υdz/ noun goods which are goodvalue for money
valuer /vljυə/ nouna person whoestimates how much money something
is worth
value stocks /vlju stɒks/ pluralnoun shares which provide a good re-turn on investment
vanilla/vənlə/noun쒁plain vanilla swap
variable /veəriəb(ə)l/ adjectivewhich changes 쐽 noun somethingwhich varies
variable annuity /veəriəb(ə)l
ə-njuəti/ noun an annuity based onfunds invested in common stock, whichvaries with the value of the stock, as op-posed to a fixed annuity
variable costs/veəriəb(ə)l kɒsts/plural nounproduction costs which in-crease with the quantity of the productmade, e.g wages or raw materials
variable rate /veəriəb(ə)l ret/nouna rate of interest on a loan which isnot fixed, but can change with the cur-rent bank interest rates Also called
floating rate variable redemption bond
/veəriəb(ə)l rdempʃən bɒnd/nounabond where the money to be repaid islinked to a variable, such as the price ofgold at the time of payment
variance/veəriəns/ nounthe ence between what was expected andthe actual results왍at variance with not
differ-in agreement with 쑗The actual sales are at variance with the sales reported
by the reps.
Trang 7variation /veərieʃ(ə)n/ noun the
amount by which something changes왍
seasonal variations variations which
take place at different times of the year
쑗seasonal variations in buying patterns
쑗There are marked seasonal variations
in unemployment in the hotel industry.
VAT/vi e ti, vt/ nouna tax on
goods and services, added as a
percent-age to the invoiced sales price쑗The
in-voice includes VAT at 17.5%. 쑗 The
government is proposing to increase
VAT to 22%. 쑗 Some items (such as
books) are zero-rated for VAT. 쑗 He
does not charge VAT because he asks
for payment in cash Full form Value
Added Tax
‘…the directive means that the services of
stockbrokers and managers of authorized unit
trusts are now exempt from VAT; previously
they were liable to VAT at the standard rate.
Zero-rating for stockbrokers’ services is still
available as before, but only where the recipient
of the service belongs outside the EC’
[Accountancy]
COMMENT : In the UK, VAT is organised
by the Customs and Excise Department,
and not by the Treasury It is applied at
each stage in the process of making or
selling a product or service Company ‘A’
charges VAT for their work, which is
bought by Company ‘B’, and pays the
VAT collected from ‘B’ to the Customs
and Excise; Company ‘B’ can reclaim the
VAT element in Company ‘A’’s invoice
from the Customs and Excise, but will
charge VAT on their work in their invoice
to Company ‘C’ Each company along the
line charges VAT and pays it to the
Cus-toms and Excise, but claims back any
VAT charged to them The final consumer
pays a price which includes VAT, and
which is the final VAT revenue paid to the
Customs and Excise Any company or
in-dividual should register for VAT if their
an-nual turnover or income is above a certain
level.
VAT declaration /vt
deklə-reʃ(ə)n/ noun a statement declaring
VAT income to the VAT office
VAT inspection/vt nspekʃ(ə)n/
nouna visit by officials of the Customs
and Excise Department to see if a
com-pany is correctly reporting its VAT
VAT inspector /vt nspektə/
nouna government official who
exam-ines VAT returns and checks that VAT
is being paid
VAT invoice/vt nvɔs/nounaninvoice which includes VAT
VAT invoicing /vt nvɔsŋ/nounthe sending of an invoice includ-ing VAT
VATman/vtmn/, vatmannounaVAT inspector
VAT office/vt ɒfs/nounthe ernment office dealing with the collec-tion of VAT in an area
gov-vault /vɔlt/ noun a strongroom in abank, usually underground, where valu-ables can be deposited
vault cash /vɔlt kʃ/ noun cashheld by a bank in its vaults, used forday-to-day needs
VCabbreviationventure capitalist
VCTabbreviationventure capital trust
velocity of money /vəlɒsti əv
m ni/ noun the rate at which moneycirculates in the economy, usually cal-culated as the GNP shown as a percent-age of the stock of money supply
vending/vendŋ/nounselling
vendor/vendə/noun1.a person whosells something, especially a property쑗
the solicitor acting on behalf of the dor2.a company selling its shares on astock market for the first time
ven-vendor placing /vendə plesŋ/nounthe act of arranging for an issue ofnew shares to be bought by institutions,
as a means of financing the purchase ofanother company
venture/ventʃə/nouna commercialdeal which involves a risk쑗They lost money on several import ventures. 쑗
She’s started a new venture – a puter shop.쐽verbto risk money
com-venture capital/ventʃə kpt(ə)l/nouncapital for investment which mayeasily be lost in risky projects, but canalso provide high returns Also called
risk capital venture capital fund /ventʃə
kpt(ə)l f nd/nouna fund which vests in finances houses providing ven-ture capital
in-‘…the Securities and Exchange Board of India allowed new companies to enter the primary market provided venture capital funds took up
10 per cent of the equity At present, new companies are allowed to make initial public offerings provided their projects have been
Trang 8which take up 10 per cent of the equity’
[The Hindu]
venture capitalist /ventʃə
kpt(ə)lst/nouna finance house or
private individual specialising in
pro-viding venture capital AbbreviationVC
‘…along with the stock market boom of the
1980s, the venture capitalists piled more and
more funds into the buyout business, backing
bigger and bigger deals with ever more
extravagant financing structures’ [Guardian]
venture capital trust /ventʃə
kpt(ə)l tr st/nouna trust which
in-vests in smaller firms which need
capi-tal to grow AbbreviationVCT
verification /verfkeʃ(ə)n/ noun
the process of checking if something is
correct 쑗 The shipment was allowed
into the country after verification of the
communication between senior
manag-ers via the middle management to the
workforce
vertical integration /v%tk(ə)l
ntreʃ(ə)n/ noun same as
back-ward integration
vested interest /vestd ntrəst/
nouna special interest in keeping an
ex-isting state of affairs왍she has a vested
interest in keeping the business
work-ing she wants to keep the business
working because she will make more
money if it does
vesting day/vestŋ de/nouna day
when a formerly nationalised industry
becomes owned by its new shareholders
vet /vet/ verb to examine something
carefully 쑗 All candidates have to be
vetted by the managing director.쑗The
contract has been sent to the legal
de-partment for vetting.(NOTE: vetting –
vetted)
viability/vaəblti/nounthe fact of
being viable or being able to make a
profit
viable/vaəb(ə)l/adjectivewhich can
work in practice 왍 not commercially
viable not likely to make a profit
videoconference /
vdiəυ-kɒnf(ə)rəns/ noun a system linking
video, audio and computer signals fromdifferent locations so that distant peoplecan talk and see each other, as if in thesame conference room
view /vju/ noun a way of thinkingabout something 쑗We asked the sales manager for his views on the reorgani- sation of the reps’ territories. 쑗 The chairman takes the view that credit should never be longer than thirty days.
왍to take the long view to plan for a
long period before your current ment will become profitable왍in view
invest-of because invest-of쑗In view of the falling change rate, we have redrafted our sales forecasts.
ex-viewdata/vjudetə/nouna service
on TV which gives share prices Someservices also allow trading over thephone
virement/vaəmənt/nouna transfer
of money from one account to another
or from one section of a budget toanother
virtual credit card /v%tʃυəl
kredt kɑd/ noun a technology thatallows a user to set up a new creditaccount with a bank on the Internetand then use this account number topurchase goods, also on the Internet
virtual tokens /v%tʃυəl təυkənz/plural nounbanking technology that al-lows a user to transfer money from theirnormal bank to an Internet bank andthen use this credit to purchase goods onthe Internet
VISA /vizə/ trademark a trademarkfor an international credit card system
visible/vzb(ə)l/adjectivereferring
to real products which are imported orexported
visible exports /vzəb(ə)l
ekspɔts/ plural noun real productswhich are imported or exported, as op-posed to services
visible trade/vzəb(ə)l tred/nountrade involving visible imports andexports
vivos쒁inter vivos voicemail /vɔsmel/ nounan elec-tronic communications system whichstores digitised recordings of telephonemessages for later playback
void/vɔd/adjectivenot legally valid
왍the contract was declared null and
Trang 9void the contract was said to be no
lon-ger valid쐽verb왍to void a contract to
make a contract invalid
voidable/vɔdəb(ə)l/adjective
refer-ring to a contract which can be annulled
volatile/vɒlətal/adjectivereferring
to a market or price which is not stable,
but which rises and falls sharply쑗The
share has been very volatile since it was
launched.
‘…blue chip stocks are the least volatile while
smaller stocks are the most volatile’ [The Times]
‘…the investment markets appear to have
become ever more volatile, with interest rates
moving at times to extreme levels, and the stock
market veering wildly from boom to slump and
back again’ [Financial Times Review]
‘…the FTSE 100 Index ended another volatile
session a net 96.3 easier at 6027’
[Financial Times]
volatility/vɒlətlti/nounthe fact of
being volatile 쑗 Investors are
recom-mended to keep their money in building
society accounts because the increasing
volatility of the stock market.
‘…while the technology sector has certainly
captured the imagination of private investors,
the enthusiasm it has aroused among them is
likely to cause extreme share price volatility in
the short term’ [Financial Times]
volatility rating/vɒlətlti retŋ/
noun a calculation of how volatile a
share is, by calculating how much its
performance is different from the
nor-mal pattern
volume/vɒljum/noun1.a quantity
of items2.the quantity of shares traded
on a stock market쑗average daily
vol-ume: 130,000 shares
volume discount /vɒljum
dskaυnt/nounthe discount given to a
customer who buys a large quantity of
goods
volume of business /vɒljum əv
bzns/nounthe number of items sold,
or the number of shares sold on the
Stock Exchange during a day’s trading
쑗 The company has maintained the
same volume of business in spite of the
recession.
volume of sales /vɒljum əv
selz/noun1.the number of items sold
왍low or high volume of sales a small
or large number of items sold2.USan
amount of money produced by sales
( : The UK term is turnover.)
volume of trade /vɒljum əv
tred/ noun same as volume ofbusiness
volume-weighted prices
/vɒljum wetd prasz/plural nounprices which are calculated according tothe volume of turnover
voluntarily /vɒlənt(ə)rəl/ adverbwithout being forced or paid
voluntary /vɒlənt(ə)ri/ adjective 1.
done freely without anyone forcing you
to act2.done without being paid
voluntary liquidation/vɒlənt(ə)ri
lkwdeʃ(ə)n/nouna situation where
a company itself decides it must closeand sell its assets
voluntary organisation
/vɒlənt(ə)ri ɔənazeʃ(ə)n/ noun
an organisation which has no paid staff
voluntary redundancy
/vɒlənt(ə)ri rd ndənsi/ noun a uation where the employee asks to bemade redundant, usually in return for alarge payment
sit-vostro account /vɒstrəυ əkaυnt/nounan account held by a correspon-dent bank for a foreign bank.쏡nostro account
vote /vəυt/ noun the act of marking
a paper or holding up your hand,
to show your opinion or to showwho you want to be elected 왍 to
take a vote on a proposal, to put a
proposal to the vote to ask people
present at a meeting to say if they
do or do not agree with the posal 쐽verb to show an opinion bymarking a paper or by holding upyour hand at a meeting 쑗 The meet- ing voted to close the factory. 쑗
pro-52% of the members voted for Mr Smith as chairman. 쑗 Most of the staff voted for a strike. 왍to vote for
or against a proposal to say that
you agree or do not agree with aproposal 왍 two directors were voted off the board at the AGM the
AGM voted to dismiss two directors
왍 she was voted on to the tee she was elected a member of the
Trang 10voting paper/vəυtŋ pepə/ noun
a paper on which the voter puts a cross
to show for whom he wants to vote
voting rights /vəυtŋ rats/ plural
nounthe rights of shareholders to vote
at company meetings
voting shares/vəυtŋ ʃeəz/pluralnounshares which give the holder theright to vote at company meetings
voucher/vaυtʃə/noun1.a piece ofpaper which is given instead of money
2.a written document from an auditor toshow that the accounts are correct orthat money has really been paid
Trang 11wage/wed$/nounthe money paid to
an employee in return for work done,
es-pecially when it is paid weekly and in
cash쑗She is earning a good wage or
good wages for a young person.(NOTE:
The plural wages is more usual when
referring to the money earned, but
wage is used before other nouns.)
‘European economies are being held back by
rigid labor markets and wage structures’
[Duns Business Month]
‘…real wages have been held down
dramatically: they have risen at an annual rate of
only 1% in the last two years’ [Sunday Times]
COMMENT : The term ‘wages’ refers to
weekly or hourly pay for workers, usually
paid in cash For employees paid by a
monthly cheque, the term used is ‘salary’.
wage adjustments /wed$
ə-d$ stmənts/ plural noun changes
made to wages
wage claim/wed$ klem/nounan
act of asking for an increase in wages
wage differentials /wed$
dfə-renʃəlz/ plural noun same as pay
differentials
wage drift/wed$ drft/nounsame
asearnings drift
wage-earner/wed$ %nə/ nouna
person who earns a wage
wage-earning/wed$ %nŋ/
adjec-tive 왍 the wage-earning population
people who have jobs and earn money
wage indexation /wed$
ndekseʃ(ə)n/nounthe linking of
in-creases to the percentage rise in the cost
of living
wage negotiations /wed$
nəυʃieʃ(ə)nz/ plural nounsame as
pay negotiations
wage packet/wed$ pkt/ noun
same aspay packet
wage-price spiral /wed$ pras
spaərəl/nouna situation where price
rises encourage higher wage demandswhich in turn make prices rise
wage restraint /wed$ rstrent/noun the act of keeping increases inwages under control
wages and prices freeze
/wed$z ən prasz friz/ noun aperiod when wages and prices are notallowed to be increased
wage scale /wed$ skel/ nounsame aspay scale
wages clerk /wed$z klɑk/ nounsame aspayroll clerk
wages drift /wed$s drft/ nounsame asearnings drift
wages policy /wed$z pɒlsi/nouna government policy on what per-centage increases should be paid toworkers
waive/wev/verbto give up a right쑗
He waived his claim to the estate.왍to waive a payment to say that payment is
not necessary
waiver/wevə/nounan act of giving
up a right or removing the conditions of
a rule쑗If you want to work without a permit, you will have to apply for a waiver.
waiver clause/wevə klɔz/nounaclause in a contract giving the condi-tions under which the rights in the con-tract can be given up
walk-in/wɔk n/nouna person whoapproaches an organisation for a job,without knowing if any jobs are avail-able(NOTE: The plural is walk-ins.)
wall of money /wɔl əv m ni/nouna large amount of money ready to
be invested on the stock market cially, money from new investmentfunds, or foreign investors)(NOTE: Simi-
(espe-lar to the weight of money.)
wallpaper /wɔlpepə/ noun sharesissued in large numbers during a take-
Trang 12over bid where the purchasing company
offers them in exchange for the shares in
the company being bought
wall safe/wɔl sef/nouna safe
in-stalled in a wall
Wall Street /wɔl strit/ noun 1. a
street in New York where the Stock
Ex-change is situated 2. the US financial
centre쑗Wall Street analysts predict a
rise in interest rates.쑗She writes the
Wall Street column in the newspaper.
warehouse/weəhaυs/nouna large
building where goods are stored
warehouse capacity /weəhaυs
kəpsti/nounthe space available in a
warehouse
warehousing/weəhaυzŋ/noun1.
the act of storing goods in a warehouse
쑗Warehousing costs are rising rapidly.
2. an illegal act where someone buys
shares in a company on behalf of
an-other company and holds them in
readi-ness to be surrendered when the second
company makes a takeover bid
War Loan/wɔ ləυn/nouna
govern-ment loan issued in time of war
warning /wɔnŋ/ nouna notice of
possible danger쑗Warning notices were
put up around the construction site.
warrant /wɒrənt/ noun an official
document which allows someone to do
something
‘…the rights issue will grant shareholders free
warrants to subscribe for further new shares’
[Financial Times]
warrantee/wɒrənti/nouna person
who is given a warranty
warrant holder /wɒrənt həυldə/
nouna person who holds a warrant for
shares
warrantor/wɒrəntɔ/nouna person
who gives a warranty
warrant premium /wɒrənt
primiəm/nouna premium paid to buy
share warrants, above the price of the
shares it entitles you to
warranty /wɒrənti/ noun1. a legal
document which promises that a
ma-chine will work properly or that an item
is of good quality쑗The car is sold with
a twelve-month warranty. 쑗The
war-ranty covers spare parts but not labour
costs. 2. a promise in a contract 3. a
statement made by an insured person
which declares that the facts stated byhim are true
washing/wɒʃŋ/noun USthe tice of selling and buying back the samesecurity, so as to reduce tax liability, or
prac-to increase trading volume 쏡
bond-washing wash sale /wɒʃ sel/ noun US thesale and then repurchase of a block ofshares (similar to the British
‘bed-and-breakfast deal’, though in the
US it may also be used as a means ofcreating fictitious trading volume)
waste/west/nounmaterial left overfrom a production process which is of
no value and is thrown away쐽verbtouse more than is needed 쑗 to waste money or paper or electricity or time쑗
The MD does not like people wasting his time with minor details.쑗We turned off all the heating so as not to waste energy.
COMMENT : Industrial waste has no value,
as opposed to scrap which may be sold to
a scrap dealer.
wasting asset/westŋ st/noun
an asset which becomes gradually lessvaluable as time goes by (e.g a shortlease on a property)
watchdog/wɒtʃdɒ/nouna person
or group that examines public spending
or financial deals, etc 왍 the City watchdog the Financial Services Au-
thority (FSA), which supervises the nancial institutions
fi-water down /wɔtə daυn/ verb tomake something less strong쑗The fam- ily’s holdings have been watered down
by the creation of the new shares.
weak /wik/ adjectivenot strong, notactive 왍share prices remained weak
share prices did not rise
weak currency/wik k rənsi/noun
a currency which is trading at a lowlevel against other currencies
weaken /wikən/ verb to becomeweak 왍 the market weakened share
prices fell
‘…the Fed started to ease monetary policy months ago as the first stories appeared about weakening demand in manufacturing industry’
[Sunday Times]
weak market/wik mɑkt/nounashare market where prices tend to fallbecause there are no buyers
weakness/wiknəs/nounthe fact ofbeing weak
Trang 13‘…indications of weakness in the US economy
were contained in figures from the Fed on
industrial production’ [Financial Times]
wealth tax /welθ tks/ nouna tax
on money, property or investments
owned by a person
web/web/nounsame asWorld Wide
Web
webpage/webped$/ nouna single
file of text and graphics, forming part of
a website
website/websat/nouna position on
the web, which is created by a company,
organisation or individual, and which
anyone can visit쑗How many hits did
we have on our website last week?
Wechselnounthe German word for
foreign exchange
weight/wet/nouna measurement of
how heavy something is왍to sell fruit
by weight the price is per pound or per
kilo of the fruit왍to give short weight
to give less than you should쐽verbto
give an extra value to a certain factor
weighted average /wetd
v(ə)rd$/ nounan average which is
calculated taking several factors into
ac-count, giving some more value than
others
weighted index /wetd ndeks/
noun an index where some important
items are given more value than less
im-portant ones
weighting /wetŋ/ noun additional
salary or wages paid to compensate for
living in an expensive part of the
coun-try쑗The salary is £15,000 plus London
weighting.
weight of money/wet əv m ni/
nouna large amount of money ready to
be invested on the stock market
(espe-cially cash available in pension funds)
wheeler-dealer/wilə dilə/nouna
person who lives on money from a
se-ries of profitable business deals
white-collar /wat kɒlə/ adjective
referring to office workers
‘…the share of white-collar occupations in total employment rose from 44 per cent to 49 per
cent’ [Sydney Morning Herald]
white-collar crime /wat kɒlə
kram/ noun crimes committed bybusiness people or office workers (such
as embezzlement, computer fraud or sider dealing)
in-white-collar job /wat kɒlə d$ɒb/nouna job in an office
white-collar union /wat kɒlə
junjən/nouna trade union formed ofwhite-collar workers
white-collar worker /wat kɒlə
w%kə/nouna worker in an office, not
in a factory
white knight/wat nat/nouna son or company which rescues a firm infinancial difficulties, especially onewhich saves a firm from being takenover by an unacceptable purchaser
per-White Paper/wat pepə/nouna port issued by the UK government as astatement of government policy on aparticular problem Compare Green Paper
re-whizz-kid/wz kd/nouna brilliantyoung person who quickly becomessuccessful in business 쑗 She was a whizz-kid who reached head of depart- ment in five years.
whole-life insurance /həυl laf
nʃυərəns/, whole-life policy /həυl
laf pɒlsi/nounan insurance policywhere the insured person pays a fixedpremium each year and the insurancecompany pays a sum when he or shedies (also called ‘whole-of-lifeassurance’)
wholesale /həυlsel/ adjective, verb referring to the business of buy-ing goods from manufacturers andselling them in large quantities totraders who then sell in smallerquantities to the general public 쑗 I persuaded him to give us a wholesale discount.왍he buys wholesale and sells retail he buys goods in bulk at a whole-
ad-sale discount and then sells in smallquantities to the public
wholesale banking /həυlsel
bŋkŋ/ noun banking services tween merchant banks and other finan-cial institutions (as opposed to retailbanking)
Trang 14wholesale dealer /həυlsel dilə/
nouna person who buys in bulk from
manufacturers and sells to retailers
wholesale market /həυlsel
mɑkt/ noun an interbank money
market, where banks and other financial
institutions deal with each other
wholesale price /həυlsel pras/
noun the price charged to customers
who buy goods in large quantities in
order to resell them in smaller quantities
to others
wholesale price index /həυlsel
pras ndeks/nounan index showing
the rises and falls of prices of
manufac-tured goods as they leave the factory
wholesaler /həυlselə/ nouna
per-son who buys goods in bulk from
manu-facturers and sells them to retailers
wholly-owned subsidiary/həυlli
əυnd səbsdjəri/ noun a subsidiary
which belongs completely to the parent
company
will/wl/nouna legal document where
someone says what should happen to his
or her property when he or she dies쑗
He wrote his will in 1984.쑗According
to her will, all her property is left to her
children.
COMMENT : A will should best be drawn
up by a solicitor; it can also be written on
a form which can be bought from a
statio-nery shop To be valid, a will must be
dated and witnessed by a third party (i.e.
by someone who is not mentioned in the
will).
windfall /wndfɔl/ noun a sudden
winning of money or a sudden profit
which is not expected
windfall wealth /wndfɔl welθ/
noun wealth which comes from a
windfall
winding up/wandŋ p/noun
liq-uidation, the act of closing a company
and selling its assets 왍a compulsory
winding up order an order from a court
saying that a company must be wound
up
windmill /wndml/ noun same as
accommodation bill (informal.)
window /wndəυ/ noun a short riod when something is available orpossible
pe-window dressing/wndəυ dresŋ/noun1.the practice of putting goods ondisplay in a shop window, so that theyattract customers2.the practice of putt-ing on a display to make a businessseem better or more profitable or moreefficient than it really is
wind up/wand p/verb1.to end ameeting 쑗 He wound up the meeting with a vote of thanks to the committee.
2. 왍to wind up a company to put a
company into liquidation 쑗 The court ordered the company to be wound up.
WIPabbreviationwork in progress
wipe off /wap ɒf/ verb to removesomething completely
wire transfer/waə trnsf%/noun
a transfer of money from one account toanother by telegraph
witching hour/wtʃŋ aυə/nounacritical moment on a stock exchange,where several options expire at the sametime
withdraw /wðdrɔ/ verb 1. to takemoney out of an account쑗to withdraw money from the bank or from your ac- count 쑗You can withdraw up to £50 from any cash machine by using your card.2.to take back an offer쑗When he found out more about the candidate, the
HR manager withdrew the offer of a job.
쑗When the workers went on strike, the company withdrew its revised pay offer.
(NOTE: withdrawing – withdrew) 왍
one of the company’s backers has withdrawn he or she stopped support-
ing the company financially쑗We pect they will withdraw their takeover bid.쑗The chairman asked him to with- draw the remarks he has made about the finance director.
ex-withdrawal/wðdrɔəl/nounthe act
of removing money from an account쑗
Trang 15to give seven days’ notice of withdrawal
쑗 Withdrawals from bank accounts
reached a peak in the week before
Christmas.왍withdrawal without
pen-alty at seven days’ notice money can
be taken out of a deposit account,
with-out losing any interest, provided that
seven days’ notice has been given
withholding tax /wðhəυldŋ
tks/ noun US a tax which removes
money from interest or dividends before
they are paid to the investor (usually
ap-plied to non-resident investors)
with-profit bond/wð prɒft bɒnd/
nouna bond which guarantees a capital
return plus the profits which have
accu-mulated during its lifetime
with profits /wθ prɒfts/ adverb
referring to an insurance policy which
guarantees the policyholder a share in
the profits of the fund in which the
premiums are invested
won /w n/ noun a unit of currency
used in North and South Korea
work/w%k/noun1.things done using
the hands or brain2. a job, something
done to earn money쑗It is not the work
itself that the employees are
complain-ing about쑗He goes to work by bus.쑗
She never gets home from work before 8
p.m.쑗His work involves a lot of
travel-ling.쑗He is still looking for work.쑗
She has been out of work for six months.
‘…the quality of the work environment
demanded by employers and employees alike’
[Lloyd’s List]
worker/w%kə/nouna person who is
employed왍worker representation on
the board the fact of having a
represen-tative of the workers as a director of the
company
worker director/w%kə darektə/
nouna director of a company who is a
representative of the workforce
workforce/w%kfɔs/nounthe total
number of employees in an
organisa-tion, industry or country
working/w%kŋ/ adjective1.
refer-ring to work2.왍working control of a
company having enough shares in a
company to be able to control all its
ac-tions (usually, this means 51% of
shares)
working capital /w%kŋ
kpt(ə)l/nouncapital in the form of
cash, stocks and debtors (less creditors)
used by a company in its day-to-dayoperations Also called circulating capital, floating capital, net current assets
working conditions/w%kŋ
kən-dʃ(ə)nz/plural nounthe general state
of the place where people work (e.g.whether it is hot, noisy, dark ordangerous)
working partner /w%kŋ pɑtnə/noun a partner who works in apartnership
working week/w%kŋ wik/nounthe usual number of hours worked perweek쑗Even though he is a freelance,
he works a normal working week.
work in progress /w%k n
prəυres/nounthe value of goods ing manufactured which are not com-plete at the end of an accounting period
be-쑗 Our current assets are made up of stock, goodwill and work-in-progress.
AbbreviationWIP (NOTE: The US term
is work in process.)
‘…the control of materials from purchased parts through work in progress to finished goods provides manufacturers with an opportunity to reduce the amount of money tied up in
materials’ [Duns Business Month]
workload /w%kləυd/ noun theamount of work which a person has to
do쑗He has difficulty in coping with his heavy workload.
work out/w%k aυt/verb to late 쑗He worked out the costs on the back of an envelope.쑗He worked out the discount at 15%.쑗She worked out the discount on her calculator.
calcu-work permit/w%k p%mt/nounanofficial document which allows some-one who is not a citizen to work in acountry
works/w%ks/nouna factory쑗There
is a small engineering works in the same street as our office.쑗The steel works is expanding. (NOTE: takes a singular orplural verb)
Trang 16works committee/w%ks kəmti/,
works council /w%ks kaυnsəl/noun
a committee of employees and
manage-ment which discusses the organisation
of work in a factory
work-sharing /w%k ʃeərŋ/ noun
a system that allows two or more
part-timers to share one job, each doing
part of the work for part of the pay
works manager/w%ks mnd$ə/
nouna person in charge of a works
workspace /w%kspes/ noun the
memory or space available on a
com-puter for temporary work
workstation /w%ksteʃ(ə)n/ noun
a desk with a computer terminal, printer,
telephone, etc., at which an employee in
an office works
world/w%ld/noun1.the Earth왍the
world market for steel the possible
sales of steel throughout the world2.the
people in a specific business or people
with a special interest쑗the world of big
business쑗the world of lawyers or the
legal world
‘…the EU pays farmers 27 cents a pound for
sugar and sells it on the world market for 5
cents’ [Duns Business Month]
‘…manufactures and services were the fastest
growing sectors of world trade’
[Australian Financial Review]
World Bank /w%ld bŋk/ noun a
central bank, controlled by the United
Nations, whose funds come from the
member states of the UN and which
lends money to member states
world rights /w%ld rats/ plural
nounthe right to sell the product
any-where in the world
World Trade Organization/w%ld
tred ɔənazeʃ(ə)n/nounan
inter-national organisation set up with the aim
of reducing restrictions in trade between
countries AbbreviationWTO
worldwide /w%ldwad/ adjective,
adverbeverywhere in the world쑗The
company has a worldwide network of
distributors.쑗Worldwide sales or Sales
worldwide have topped two million
units.쑗This make of computer is
avail-able worldwide.
World Wide Web /w%ld wad
web/ noun an information system on
the Internet that allows documents to be
linked to one another by hypertext links
and accommodates websites and makesthem accessible Also calledweb worth/w%θ/adjectivehaving a value
or a price쑗Don’t get it repaired – it’s worth only £25. 쑗 The car is worth
£6,000 on the secondhand market.왍he
is worth £10m he owns property,
in-vestments, etc., which would sell for
£10m왍what are ten pounds worth in dollars? what is the equivalent of £10 in
dollars?쐽nouna value왍give me ten pounds’ worth of petrol give me as
much petrol as £10 will buy
worthless /w%θləs/ adjective ing no value쑗The cheque is worthless
hav-if it is not signed.
wraparound mortgage
/rpəraυnd mɔd$/noun USa type
of second mortgage where the borrowerpays interest only to the second lender(who then pays the interest payments onthe first mortgage to the first lender)
wreck/rek/noun1.a ship which hassunk, which has been badly damagedand cannot float쑗They saved the cargo from the wreck.쑗Oil poured out of the wreck of the tanker. 2.the fact of col-lapsing, or a company which has col-lapsed쑗He managed to save some of his investment from the wreck of the company.쑗Investors lost thousands of pounds in the wreck of the investment trust. 쐽 verb to damage somethingbadly or to ruin it쑗They are trying to salvage the wrecked tanker.쑗The ne- gotiations were wrecked by the unions.
writ /rt/, writ of summons /rt əv
s mənz/nouna legal document whichbegins an action in the High Court 쑗
The court issued a writ to prevent the trade union from going on strike.쑗The company obtained a writ to prevent the trade union from going on strike. 왍to
serve someone with a writ, to serve a
writ on someone to give someone a
writ officially, so that he or she has todefend it
write down/rat daυn/verbto note
an asset at a lower value than previously
쑗written down value쑗The car is ten down in the company’s books.
writ-writedown /ratdaυn/ nounthe act
of noting of an asset at a lower value
‘…the holding company has seen its earnings suffer from big writedowns in conjunction
with its $1 billion loan portfolio’ [Duns