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User Guide
Financial Glossary
- APR - Annual Percentage Rate
- Administration
- Amortisation
- Annual Report
- Approving a Sale
- Assurance
- Authorisation Process
- Balance Sheet
- Balloon Payment
- Base Rate
- Benefits
- Bill Of Exchange
- CAGR - Compound Annual Growth Rate
- CAPEX - Capital Expenditure
- CEO - Chief Executive Officer
- CFO - Chief Financial Officer
- CIO - Chief Information Officer
- COO - Chief Operating Officer
- CTO - Chief Technology Office
- Capital
- Capital Goods
- Capital Lease
- Capital Spend
- Cash Burn
- Chairman
- Chapter 11
- Charge
- Chinese Walls
- Churn
- Cockroach Effect
- Contract Hire
- Cost Of Capital
- Cost Savings
- Covenant
- Credit Scoring
- Credit Search
- Creditors
- Cross Charging
- DCF - Discounted Cash Flow Analysis
- DSO
- Debentures
- Debtors
- Depreciation
- Directors' Report
- Discount Rate (pa%)
- Dividend
- Dividend Yield
- EBITDA
- EPS - Earnings Per Share
- EVA %
- EVA - Economic Value Add
- Earnings
- Efficiency Improvements
- Ego
- Endorsement
- Equity
- Equity Rental
- Extension Rentals
- FD - Finance Director
- FRS 17
- Factoring
- Finance Lease
- Financial Returns
- Fixed Assets
- Floating Charge
- Forward Multiple
- Fraud Reduction
- Funds Flow Statement
- Gearing
- Goodwill
- Gross Profit Percentage
- Hire Purchase
- Hurdle Rate
- IPO - Initial Public Offering
- IRR - Internal Rate Of Return
- Impairment Charge
- Incoterms
- Infrastructure
- Initial Lease Period
- Insider Trading
- Insolvency
- Intangible Asset
- Inventory
- Investment Appraisal
- LIBOR - London Inter Bank Offered Rate
- Lease Purchase
- Leasing
- Leverage
- Like-for-like
- Liquidation
- Liquidity
- Liquidity Ratio
- Loaded Cost
- Loans
- Loss
- MD - Managing Director
- MMC - Monopolies and Mergers Commission
- Margin
- Marginal Cost
- Mark Up
- Market Capitalisation
- Market Value
- Minimum return (pa%)
- Monthly Costs (averaged)
- Multiple
- NPV - Net Present Value
- Net Asset Value
- Net Asset Value (per share)
- Non-Executive Director
- OPEX
- Off Balance Sheet Financing
- Offshore
- On Balance Sheet
- Operating Lease
- Outright Purchase
- Outsourcing
- Ownership - Risks
- Ownership Rewards
- P/E Ratio
- Payback
- Private Limited Company
- Profit
- Profit and Loss Account
- Prospective Earnings
- Prospectus
- Public Company
- Quoted Company
- ROCE - Return On Capital Employed
- ROI - Return On Investment
- Rate Of Return
- Regulatory Costs
- Renting
- Residual Value
- Results
- Return On Assets (ROA)
- Return On Equity (ROE)
- Return On Investment Capital (ROIC)
- Return On Net Assets (RONA)
- Return On Sales (ROS)
- Revaluation
- Revenue
- Review period
- SLA - Service Level Agreement
- Security
- Share Capital
- Shareholder Value
- Shareprice
- Spend Deferment
- Stock
- Substance Over Form
- Sweating the Assets
- TCO
- Target Price
- Tax Avoidance
- Tax Evasion
- The Market
- Time Is Of The Essence
- Tranche
- VAE - Value Added (Economic)
- VAE%
- Volatility
- WDA - Writing Down Allowance
- Weighted Average Cost Capital (WACC)
- Whole Useful Life
- Window Dressing
- Wooden Dollars
- Working Capital
- Write Downs
International Trade Glossary
Window Dressing
Financial window dressing is preparing/disclosing financial statements of a company to make the business appear in the best possible light (within accounting regulations). This is flexing the rules to portray the best possible position, accentuating positives, hiding negatives, and creating the maximum possible effect, eg for takeovers, or raising finance.
Straight Talk
Is finance a science or an art? There are of course many ways to portray a set of results, and the accountancy reporting rules can be viewed as an artist’s palette - how can we paint the best possible picture to help a particular situation? Highlight strengths, hide negatives, ignore concerns - all designed to create as unfair a position as possible - but yet within the rules.