-- A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z --

WANT MORE RESOURCES?

- A -
Account Classification	Business transactions that are summarized by groups/categories, i.e., assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses.
Accounting Period	A period of time covered by an Income Statement or Statement of Changes in Financial Position. It can be any length of time that is measured, but usually accounting periods are months, quarters and years. A fiscal year is any consecutive 12-month period that a business chooses to adopt as its calendar year.
Accounts Payable	Claims of vendors and others against the reporting company for goods and services provided. These claims are usually unsecured. Accounts payable is a current liability.
Accounts Receivable	Amounts due to the reporting company from customers. Accounts receivable is considered a current asset.
Accrual Accounting	Accrual accounting attempts to match expenses with revenues for a particular reporting period.
Accrual Income	The difference between revenues and expenses identified during specific periods of time. Revenue is recognized during the period it is earned. Correspondingly, expenses are matched to the revenue they help produce.
ACH Transaction	A method for paying a vendor whereby a firm deposits funds into the vendors bank account
Activity Based Costing (ABC)	A method to direct organization’s costs to the products and services that caused the costs to be incurred.
Alternate Site	An alternate operating location to be used by business functions when the primary facilities are inaccessible. 1) Another location, computer center or work area designated for recovery. 2) Location, other than the main facility, that can be used to conduct business functions. 3) A location, other than the normal facility, used to process data and/or conduct critical business functions in the event of a disaster.
Assets	Resources owned by a company usually recorded in the ledger at historical cost.
Assumed Receipt	An alternative to the three-way matching method of matching payment documents where goods are assumed to have been delivered when the invoice arrives with the firm; accounts payable pays the amount on the invoice unless instructed otherwise after the department making the purchase reviews the invoice

- B -
- Top -
Backup Withholding	Under certain conditions, the business entity is required to withhold part of a payment to a vendor subject to backup withholding. The amount withheld is remitted to the internal revenue service. Backup withholding is usually required when a payee has failed to give the proper taxpayer identification number to the business entity.
Balance Sheet	A financial statement that lists the assets of the reporting entity and claims against those assets. The difference between categories is known as Owners’ Equity.
Benchmarking	The process of establishing a standard of performance.
Bills of Lading	Documents that typically accompany a shipment transferring custody of the goods from the supplier to the transportation company.
Blanket Purchase Order	A large purchase order covering multiple purchases over a stated period of time.
B-Notice	A notification sent by a business entity to a vendor/payee that the taxpayer identification number provided by them is incorrect, thus subjecting the vendor/payee to possible backup withholding requirements.
Business Continuity	The ability of an organization to provide service and support for its customers and to maintain its viability before, during, and after a business continuity event.
Business-To-Business Network (B2B)	A connection between the Internet and a company’s private internal network.

- C -
- Top -
Cash Flow	The process of using cash to generate goods or services for sale, selling the goods or services, collecting the cash and then repeating this cycle.
Certified Independent Audits	Performed by CPAs who attest to the fairness of the financial statement presentation.
Check	Traditional payment system; specially constructed piece of paper instructing the issuer's financial institution to pay the individual, or organization, indicated on the paper a specified sum of money.
Check Disbursement	The act of sending checks to the payees, usually by mail.
Check Float	The time between when a check is prepared and the funds are withdrawn from the issuers bank account.
Check Run	The act of printing a series of checks to be disbursed by the firm.
Check Stock	The special paper on which a firm prints checks.
Collection Float	The length of time between a check’s presentation for deposit and the actual debit from the account.
Consigned Inventories	Goods owned by a supplier, but stored at the buyer’s facility and billed only after they have been sold or consumed.
Consumption Tax	A tax levied on the consumer. Sales/use taxes and value added taxes are considered consumption taxes.
Control	An activity that mitigates or prevents a risk from being realized
Cross Docking	A process whereby incoming shipments are placed onto an outgoing vehicle.
Current Assets	Assets that are expected to be consumed within one year or one operating cycle of the business.
Current Liabilities	Obligations due within the next 12 months.
Custodial Agreements	A covenant signed by the employee outlining responsibilities as a safeguard against misuse and abuse.

- D -
- Top -
Deferrable	Applications that contain data that is used periodically, such as market analyses. These applications are looking at a recovery time of 24 hours or longer.
Disaster Planning	The action plan in place to safeguard against the risks of unplanned events such as fire, earthquake, terrorism, harsh weather, computer crash or power outages.
Dormancy Period	A term used in connection with the escheatment process. The dormancy period is prescribed by state law and is the amount of time that lapses before an unclaimed property becomes escheatable.

- E -
- Top -
E Card	Similar to a P-card but used by purchasing to facilitate buying via e-commerce/internet.
EFT	The electronic direct deposit system for organizations.
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)	The electronic exchange of business transactions in a standard format.
Electronic Invoice Presentment (Payment)	EIP is a process by which a service provider collects invoices from a customer’s suppliers and electronically transforms them into a standard format that can be integrated into the customer’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. In some cases, the service provider also pays the invoices on behalf of the customer (EIPP).
Electronic Matching	Electronically reconciling documents, such as the purchase order, invoice and receipt.
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)	A business management system that integrates all facets of the business, including planning, manufacturing, sales, and marketing.
Entity Level Control	A control that is pervasive across the entity, sometimes referred to as a soft control or an element of the control environment.
Escheatment	A process whereby unclaimed property is turned over the state of jurisdiction for safe keeping.
Essential	Systems that are classified as most supporting business systems, such as financial analysis applications, in this category. These systems must not be down more than a day.
Evaluated Receipt Settlement	An alternative to the three-way matching method of matching payment documents where accounts payable submits payment to the vendor based on the figures stated in the purchase order upon receipt of ordered goods, no invoice is used in the payment process.
Evaluated Receipts Settlement (ERS)	A procedure that allows one to settle goods received without receiving an invoice. Also known as a two-way match.
Expenditure Authority	Name for the level of authority granted to an individual within a firm allowing them to authorize purchases up to stated dollar amount.

- F -
- Top -
Fixed Assets	Tangible resources expected to last in excess of one year. The business ordinarily acquires these assets to use in the production of other goods and services. Since these assets are used over more than one accounting period, the cost is allocated over the expected useful lives through a process called depreciation. The full cost is not expensed in the period of acquisition.
Fleet Card	A credit card restricted to expenses, such as gas, vehicle maintenance, and parking.
Form 1042, Annual                         Withholding Tax Return for U.S. Source Income of Foreign Persons	A form used to report and remit to the Internal Revenue Service amounts withheld from payments to foreign individuals and entities.
Form 1042-S, Foreign Person’s U.S. Source Income Subject to Withholding	An information return filed with the Internal Revenue Service and provided to foreign individuals and entities. It is used to report potential taxable income amounts received by foreign individuals and entities.
Form 1042-T, Annual Summary and Transmittal of Forms 1042-S	A form used to transmit all Forms 1042-S to the Internal Revenue Service.
Form 1096, Annual Summary and Transmittal of U.S. Information Returns	Form used to manually transmit 1099 forms to the Internal Revenue Service.
Form 1099 (Various)	An information return prepared by a business entity that reports payments to individuals, independent contractors and other non-corporate entities. The form is filed with the Internal Revenue Service and sent to the vendor/payee. There are many types of Form 1099. For a listing of common 1099 forms see section 02-02 Types of Form 1099.
Form 4419, Application for Filing Information Returns Electronically (FIRE)	Form used to apply for filing Forms 1099 in electronic format to the Internal Revenue Service.
Form 8508, Request for Waiver from Filing Information Returns Electronically	Form used to apply for a hardship waiver from filing Forms 1099 in electronic format when required to do so. This form is filed with the Internal Revenue Service.
Form 8809, Application for Extension of Time to File Information Returns	Form used to request an extension of time for filing Form 1099 with the Internal Revenue Service.
Form 945, Annual Return of Withheld Federal Income Tax	Form used to report and remit backup withholding to the Internal Revenue Service.
Form W-8 (Various)	An information request form used by a business entity to request specific information from a foreign individual or entity for income tax reporting purposes. There are several types of Form W-8.
Form W-9, Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certificate	An information request form used by a business entity to request specific information from a United States citizen or entity. The information on Form W-9 helps determine if a vendor/payee should be subject to Form 1099 reporting.
Freight Bill	A document that transfers custody from the carrier to the purchaser.

- G -
- Top -
General Ledger	The detail of the financial effects of a company’s monetary transactions summarized by account.
Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP)	The guiding principles for recording transactions and producing financial statements for use by managers, investors and other interested parties.
Ghost Card	An organization credit account with a number unknown to the user. This can help centralize purchases, making payment processing earlier.

- I -
- Top -
Imaging	The comprehensive capture, storage, retrieval and management of digitized paper documents and/or computer-generated data files.
Income Statement	A financial statement that over a specific period of time summarizes the change in owners’ equity resulting from transactions other than contributions and withdrawals by owners.
Independent Contractor	An independent contractor is a self-employed person who provides services to a business or businesses. Business entities are required to report payments to independent contractors on Form 1099 each year.
Independent Contractor	An individual who performs services normally covered by contract, subject to Profit & Loss (P&L) risk, without employee benefits and not closely supervised or controlled.
Information Return	A return filed with the Internal Revenue Service which provides information; however, a tax payment is generally not remitted.
Input Tax	Associated with value added tax, the input tax is the tax paid on raw material or inputs into the product being produced.
Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS)	An automated approach to taking inquiries.
Interactive Web Response (IWR)	A technology that enables vendors to inquire upon the status of submitted invoices via a secured Internet website on a 24/7 basis.
Internal Audit	Assesses the control environment and provides operational solutions and control improvement recommendations to management.
Internal Control Assessment	A process performed by management or auditors to determine if controls are well designed and effective at mitigating risk.
Internal Metrics	Measurements used to evaluate the performance of a function or process. They can be used for both cost and quality purposes and serve as a “report card” for evaluating performance.
Invoice	A bill from a vendor indicating the items purchased, price of each item, total value of the purchase and payment terms for remittance.