Luxury Lexicon 28 terms

Finance terms

Terms used in accounting and financial planning.

All groups

0–9

401(k)
A US employer-sponsored retirement savings plan.

A

Accounts payable
Amounts owed to suppliers, and the work of checking and paying those invoices.
Accounts receivable
Amounts owed by customers, and the work of recording and collecting them.
Accrual
Recognizing income or an expense in the period it relates to, even when payment happens at another time.
Average transaction value
Sales value divided by the number of transactions during a period.

C

CAPEX
Capital expenditure: spending to acquire or improve assets expected to serve the business beyond the current period.

E

ERP
Enterprise resource planning: software that connects activities such as purchasing, inventory and finance through shared records.

F

FP&A
Financial planning and analysis: budgeting, forecasting and analyzing financial results to support decisions.
FSA
Flexible spending account: a US employer arrangement for setting aside money for eligible expenses.
FTE
Full-time equivalent: a way to express working time as a proportion of a defined full-time workload.

G

Gross margin
The share of revenue remaining after the cost of goods sold has been deducted.

H

HSA
Health savings account: a US account for eligible medical expenses, available only when the relevant eligibility conditions are met.

M

Markdown
A reduction from a product's previous selling price.
Month-end close
The checks and accounting work used to complete a month's financial records.

O

Open-to-buy
The remaining inventory purchasing budget for a period, based on planned sales, stock and existing commitments.
OPEX
Operating expenditure: the ongoing costs of running a business.

P

P&L
Profit and loss: a financial view of revenue, costs and the resulting profit or loss over a period.
POS
Point of sale: where a purchase is completed, and the equipment or software used to take payment and record the sale.
Procurement
Obtaining goods or services through supplier selection, purchasing and related controls.

R

Reconciliation
Comparing records and investigating differences so balances or transactions can be accounted for.
Revenue management
Forecasting demand to set a hotel's prices, availability and sales channels so that its fixed stock of rooms earns the most.
RevPAR
Revenue per available room: a hotel's room revenue divided by all the rooms it had to sell, whether they were occupied or not.
ROI
Return on investment: a measure comparing the return from an investment with its cost.
RRSP
Registered retirement savings plan: a Canadian retirement savings arrangement with specific tax and contribution rules.

S

S&OP
Sales and operations planning: a regular process for aligning demand, supply and financial plans.
SAP
A business software provider whose products support activities such as finance, procurement and inventory.
Sell-through
The proportion of available or received stock sold during a stated period; the stock basis must be specified.

V

Variance analysis
Examining the difference between actual results and a budget, forecast or other comparison, and explaining its causes.

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