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.

500 terms, showing 491–500 (page 50 of 50).

W

Win-loss analysis

Finding out why you won and why you lost. Ask, and people usually tell you.

Work in progress

Work you have done and not yet billed. Real value that is invisible in the bank.

Working capital

The money tied up in running the business day to day — stock you have bought, invoices you are waiting on, bills you have not yet paid.

Working capital cycle

How many days your money is tied up between paying suppliers and being paid.

Working time

Limits on hours, and the rest breaks people are entitled to.

Write-off and provision for bad debts

Accepting that an invoice will not be paid, and recognising it in the accounts.

Wrongful trading

Also called Trading while insolvent, Directors' duties on insolvency

Continuing to trade when you should have known the company could not avoid insolvency. It makes directors personally liable.

Y

Year end

The date the accounts are made up to, and what happens around it.

Z

Zero-based budgeting

Building the budget from nothing each year rather than from last year's.

Zero-hours and casual work

No guaranteed hours. Legal, and it does not remove the worker's rights.

Ready when you are

Have a look round the demo, start a free trial with your own service in it, or ask us the awkward question first. Whichever you pick, the people who answer are the people who built it.