Bilingual Glossary
Look up key business and accounting terms. Choose which fields to display for self-study — English or Chinese terms and definitions.
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109 of 109 terms
A
Accounting Equation
The fundamental relationship Assets = Liabilities + Equity that must always balance in double-entry bookkeeping.
Accounting Period
A defined span of time for which financial records are kept and reports are prepared, such as a month, quarter, or year.
Accruals
Revenues earned or expenses incurred that have not yet been recorded in cash, such as wages earned but not yet paid.
Accumulated Depreciation
The total depreciation expense recorded for an asset since it was acquired; a contra-asset account that reduces book value.
Adjusting Entries
Journal entries made at the end of an accounting period to update accounts for accruals, deferrals, and depreciation.
Analysis ToolPak
An Excel add-in that provides advanced statistical tools such as descriptive statistics, histograms, and regression analysis.
Asset Register
A detailed record of all fixed assets owned by a business, including cost, acquisition date, useful life, depreciation method, and current book value.
Assets
Resources owned by a business that have future economic value, such as cash, equipment, or inventory.
Audit
An independent examination of financial records and systems to verify accuracy and compliance with standards.
B
Balance Sheet
A financial statement showing a company's assets, liabilities, and equity at a specific point in time.
Bank Reconciliation
The process of comparing internal payroll records against bank statements to identify timing differences and errors.
Book Value
The net value of an asset on the balance sheet, calculated as Original Cost minus Accumulated Depreciation.
Box Plot
A chart that displays the five-number summary (minimum, Q1, median, Q3, maximum) and highlights outliers visually.
Break-Even Point
The sales volume at which total revenue equals total costs, resulting in zero profit.
C
Capital Expenditure
Money spent to acquire or improve a long-term asset, recorded on the balance sheet rather than as an immediate expense.
Cash Flow
The movement of money in and out of a business; positive cash flow means more money coming in than going out.
Cash Flow Statement
A financial statement showing how cash moved in and out of a business during a period, organized by operating, investing, and financing activities.
Chart of Accounts
An organized list of all accounts used by a business, each with a unique number and category.
Closing Entries
Journal entries that transfer temporary account balances (revenue, expenses, dividends) to retained earnings, resetting them to zero for the next period.
Conditional Formatting
An Excel feature that automatically changes cell appearance based on rules, such as highlighting values above a threshold.
Contra Account
An account that reduces the balance of a related account, such as Accumulated Depreciation reducing Fixed Assets.
Contribution Margin
The amount each unit sold contributes toward covering fixed costs and generating profit, calculated as Selling Price − Variable Cost per Unit.
Cost of Goods Sold (COGS)
The total cost of inventory items sold during a period, calculated as Beginning Inventory + Purchases − Ending Inventory.
Current Ratio
A liquidity measure calculated as Current Assets ÷ Current Liabilities; a ratio above 1 means the business can cover short-term debts.
CVP Analysis
Cost-Volume-Profit analysis; a method that examines how changes in costs and sales volume affect a company's profit.
D
Data Cleaning
The process of detecting and correcting errors, inconsistencies, and missing values in raw data before analysis.
Data Table
An Excel what-if analysis tool that shows how changing one or two variables affects the result of a formula.
Data Validation
An Excel feature that restricts what users can enter into a cell, such as limiting entries to a dropdown list or a number range.
Debits and Credits
The two sides of every journal entry. Debits increase assets and expenses; credits increase liabilities, equity, and revenue.
Deferrals
Cash received or paid before the related revenue is earned or expense is incurred, such as prepaid insurance.
Depreciation
The systematic allocation of a fixed asset's cost over its useful life, reflecting wear and tear or obsolescence.
Depreciation Schedule
A table showing the annual depreciation expense, accumulated depreciation, and book value for each asset over its useful life.
Descriptive Statistics
Summary measures that describe the central tendency and spread of a data set, such as mean, median, and standard deviation.
Double-Declining Balance
An accelerated depreciation method that applies twice the straight-line rate to the asset's book value each year.
Double-Entry Bookkeeping
A system where every transaction is recorded with equal debits and credits, keeping the accounting equation in balance.
E
Employer Tax Contribution
Taxes the employer must pay in addition to employee wages, such as Social Security, Medicare, and unemployment insurance.
Ending Inventory
The value of inventory remaining at the end of an accounting period.
Excel Table
A structured range of data in Excel with named columns, auto-expanding formulas, and built-in formatting.
Expenses
Costs incurred in the process of earning revenue, such as rent, wages, or supplies.
F
FIFO
First-In, First-Out; an inventory method that assumes the oldest items purchased are the first ones sold.
Financing Activities
The section of the cash flow statement that reports cash from or paid to investors and creditors, such as issuing stock or repaying loans.
Fixed Assets
Long-term tangible assets used in business operations that are not expected to be converted to cash within one year, such as buildings, vehicles, and equipment.
Fixed Costs
Expenses that remain constant regardless of production or sales volume, such as rent or insurance.
FORECAST.LINEAR
An Excel function that predicts a future value along a linear trend based on existing data points.
G
GAAP
Generally Accepted Accounting Principles; the standard framework of guidelines for financial accounting used in the United States.
Goal Seek
An Excel tool that finds the input value needed to achieve a desired result in a formula.
Gross Pay
Total earnings before any deductions are taken out, including regular wages, overtime, and tips.
H
Histogram
A bar chart that shows the frequency distribution of a continuous data set, revealing its shape and spread.
Hourly Wage
Pay calculated based on the number of hours worked, as opposed to a fixed salary.
I
IFERROR
An Excel function that returns a custom result when a formula produces an error, such as showing 'Not Found' instead of #N/A.
IFS Function
An Excel function that tests multiple conditions and returns the value for the first true condition.
Income Statement
A financial statement showing revenue, expenses, and net income over a specific period; also called the profit and loss statement.
INDEX/MATCH
A powerful Excel lookup combination where MATCH finds a position and INDEX returns the value at that position in another range.
Inventory Turnover Ratio
A measure of how many times inventory is sold and replaced during a period, calculated as COGS ÷ Average Inventory.
Investing Activities
The section of the cash flow statement that reports cash used for or received from buying and selling long-term assets.
J
Journal Entry
A record of a business transaction showing which accounts are debited and credited and by what amounts.
K
KPI Dashboard
A visual display of key performance indicators such as ratios, trends, and targets, often built with Excel charts and conditional formatting.
L
Ledger
A complete record of all financial transactions organized by account, used to prepare financial statements.
Liabilities
Amounts a business owes to outside parties, such as loans, accounts payable, or unpaid taxes.
LIFO
Last-In, First-Out; an inventory method that assumes the most recently purchased items are the first ones sold.
Linear Regression
A statistical method that models the relationship between two variables as a straight line, used for forecasting.
M
Macros
A recorded sequence of Excel actions that can be replayed to automate repetitive tasks.
Margin
The percentage of the selling price that is profit, calculated as (Selling Price − Cost) ÷ Selling Price.
Markup
The percentage added to the cost of a product to determine its selling price, calculated as (Selling Price − Cost) ÷ Cost.
Matching Principle
The accounting rule that expenses should be recorded in the same period as the revenues they helped generate.
Mean
The arithmetic average of a data set, calculated by summing all values and dividing by the count.
Median
The middle value in a sorted data set; half the values are above it and half are below it.
N
Named Ranges
A descriptive name assigned to a cell or range of cells in Excel, making formulas easier to read and maintain.
Net Income
The profit remaining after all expenses are subtracted from revenue; also called the bottom line.
Net Pay
The amount an employee actually receives after all withholdings and deductions are subtracted from gross pay.
O
Operating Activities
The section of the cash flow statement that reports cash generated or used by core business operations.
Outliers
Data points that fall far outside the normal range of a data set and may distort statistical analysis.
Overtime Pay
Additional compensation for hours worked beyond the standard workweek, typically at 1.5 times the regular rate.
Owner's Equity
The owner's residual claim on business assets after all liabilities are paid; also called net worth or capital.
P
Payroll Register
A summary report listing all employees, their gross pay, deductions, and net pay for a specific pay period.
Permanent Accounts
Accounts whose balances carry forward to the next period, such as assets, liabilities, and equity.
POS Data
Transaction records captured at the point of sale, including items sold, prices, quantities, and timestamps.
Power Query
An Excel feature that imports, transforms, and combines data from external sources such as web pages or CSV files.
Prepaid Expenses
Payments made in advance for goods or services to be received in the future, recorded as an asset until used.
R
Retained Earnings
The cumulative net income kept in the business after dividends are paid; links the income statement to the balance sheet.
Return on Assets (ROA)
A profitability measure calculated as Net Income ÷ Total Assets; shows how efficiently a company uses its assets to generate profit.
Revenue
Money earned from selling goods or services before any expenses are subtracted.
Revenue Recognition
The accounting principle that revenue is recorded when it is earned and realizable, not necessarily when cash is received.
S
Salaried Employee
An employee who receives a fixed amount of pay per period regardless of hours worked.
Salvage Value
The estimated amount a fixed asset can be sold for at the end of its useful life.
Scatterplot
A chart that plots pairs of numeric values as points on a grid, used to visualize the relationship between two variables.
Specific Identification
An inventory method that tracks the actual cost of each individual item sold, used for high-value or unique products.
Standard Deviation
A measure of how spread out data values are from the mean; a larger value means more variability.
Straight-Line Depreciation
A depreciation method that allocates equal expense each period: (Cost − Salvage Value) ÷ Useful Life.
SUMIF
An Excel function that adds cells meeting a single criterion, such as summing all debits for a specific account.
SUMIFS
An Excel function that adds cells meeting multiple criteria, such as summing expenses for a specific department and month.
SUMPRODUCT
An Excel function that multiplies corresponding values in arrays and returns the sum of those products.
SWITCH Function
An Excel function that compares a value against a list of possible results and returns the corresponding match.
T
T-Account
A visual tool shaped like a 'T' used to analyze debits on the left side and credits on the right side of an account.
Tax Tables
Published schedules that determine how much income tax to withhold based on an employee's filing status and pay amount.
Temporary Accounts
Accounts that track activity for one accounting period and are closed to zero at period end, such as revenue and expense accounts.
Text to Columns
An Excel tool that splits text in one column into multiple columns based on a delimiter such as a comma or space.
Trial Balance
A report listing all ledger account balances to verify that total debits equal total credits.
TRIM Function
An Excel function that removes extra spaces from text, leaving only single spaces between words.
U
Unearned Revenue
Cash received before services are performed or goods are delivered; recorded as a liability until earned.
Useful Life
The estimated period over which a fixed asset is expected to be productive before it is retired or replaced.
V
Variable Costs
Expenses that change in direct proportion to production or sales volume, such as raw materials or packaging.
VBA
Visual Basic for Applications; a programming language built into Excel used to write custom automation and user forms.
W
Waste Percentage
The proportion of purchased inventory that is discarded before being sold, calculated as (Wasted Units ÷ Total Units) × 100.
Weighted Average Cost
An inventory method that assigns the same average cost to every unit, calculated as Total Cost of Goods Available ÷ Total Units Available.
Withholdings
Amounts deducted from an employee's gross pay for taxes, insurance, retirement, or other obligations.
Working Capital
The difference between current assets and current liabilities; measures a company's short-term financial health.
X
XLOOKUP
An Excel function that searches a range for a value and returns a corresponding result from another range, replacing VLOOKUP.
Z
Z-Score
A measure of how many standard deviations a data point is from the mean; values beyond ±2 are often considered unusual.