Business A to Z

Every trade has words it uses without explaining. In business the cost of not knowing one is real: some of them are ordinary jargon and some of them are a decision that can take a house.

Please note: This page explains what a term means. It is general information, not legal, financial, tax or investment advice, and it does not know anything about your business. Before you sign, file or commit to anything, check it with an accountant, a solicitor, or the official guidance we link to.

Studying business? We write GCSE revision songs, and there is one for business studies. Listen to the revision playlist.

71 terms filed under C, showing 1–10 (page 1 of 8).

C

Call to action

The instruction telling somebody what to do next. Specific beats clever.

Cap table

Also called Capitalisation table

A list of who owns what. Simple to keep and painful to reconstruct.

Capacity constraints and bottlenecks

The one step that limits everything. Improving anything else changes nothing.

Capacity planning

Matching what you can produce with what you have sold.

Capacity utilisation

How much of your total capacity is being used. The number behind most operational decisions.

Capital allowances

Also called Annual Investment Allowance, AIA, Full expensing

Tax relief on equipment and other capital purchases, replacing depreciation for tax purposes.

Capital and revenue expenditure

Buying something that lasts, versus paying for something consumed. Different accounting and different tax.

Capital gains on business assets

Selling business assets, and the reliefs that reduce the tax.

Capital gains tax

Also called CGT, Business Asset Disposal Relief

Tax on the profit made when you sell an asset, including a business or shares in one.

Cash conversion

How much of your profit turns into actual cash.

Something missing?

If there is a word you have been nodding along to, tell us and we will write it up. This library exists because of the questions people were too polite to ask.

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