TERM |
DESCRIPTION |
Accounting |
Recording of an entity’s transactions using accounting methods and procedures. |
Accounting convention |
Common practice universally followed in recording and presenting information – helps to compare data across units. |
Accounts payable |
Money that is owed (buying goods on account or on credit). |
Accounts receivable |
Money that should be collected from customers who bought on credit. |
Assets |
Economic resources that are expected to produce economic benefits for their owners such as buildings, vehicles or machinery. |
Bad debts |
When customers never pay what they owe. |
Balance Sheet |
Statement of an entity’s position at a given date: assets = liabilities + equity. |
Budget |
A short term financial plan. |
Cash equivalents |
Not cash, but can be converted into cash easily. |
Cash Flow Statement |
A statement showing sources and uses of funds and that explains the changes in cash and cash equivalents over the period of accounts. |
Creditor |
Someone to whom money is owed. |
Debtor |
Someone who owes us money. |
Depreciation |
A loss of value / The process of allocating the original purchase price of a fixed asset over the course of its useful life. |
Director |
People appointed by the shareholders to manage the company. |
Equity |
Difference between the rand value, total assets and liabilities. |
Expense |
Decreases equity other relating distributions to participants. |
Elements |
Assets, liabilities, income, expenses and equity. |
Estimate |
Calculated guess based on forecasts. |
Forecasting |
Making predictions for the future. |
Freely transferable |
When the general public is able to buy and sell their shares. |
Income |
Increases equity other relating contributions from participants. |
Income Statement |
A record of an entity’s income and expenses for a specified period of time. |
Interest |
Percentage accumulated on monies invested or monies owed. |
Liabilities |
Present obligations resulting past settlement resulting outflows. |
Post |
The process of transferring information to a ledger. |
Prepaid expense |
A portion of an expense has been paid off. |
Ratio |
Measures the relationship between two measurable items by dividing one item by another item. |
Retained earnings |
A portion of the profit is not drawn out by the owner. |
Return |
The owners earning a good return on investment in the business. |
Shares |
A unit of ownership in a company. |
Shareholder/Stockholder |
Individual who owns the shares. |
Tax |
Monies that are payable as a portion of income as per a country’s legislation. |
Unbiased |
Serving accounting principles alone and not one’s own interest. |
Wages |
Calculated by adding normal time and overtime. |
STATISTICAL TERMS (PART 3) |
|
Data |
Numerical information contained in a population. |
Experiment |
Any process of observations or measurement. |
Population |
A complete data collection of elements sharing a specified characteristic of interest, the properties of which are to be analysed. |
Parameter |
A numerical characteristic of a population. |
Sample |
A portion/part of the total population. |
Statistic |
A numerical characteristic of a sample. |
Census |
A study of an entire population. |
Elements |
The entities or objects about which information is collected. |
Variable |
A characteristic of interest about the element, i.e., the topic about which data are collected. |
Quantitative data |
Measurements that are expressed numerically, where the number has meaning on a number line. |
Qualitative data |
Information that is non-numerical, like marital status, type of job, gender, etc. It is sometimes coded to appear quantitative but will have no meaning on a number line. |