The Enterprise Zone
Glossary
Advisory companies
Businesses that give advice to other companies, e.g. advice on business strategy and finance.
Assets
Anything which has a monetary value.
Backer
Somebody who gives support (financial or otherwise) to someone or something, e.g. putting up a sum of money to support a new business.
Balance
The amount of money in an account, after all payments in and withdrawals out have been counted. The balance is 'negative' if there is more money owed than is in the account.
Biomass
Organic matter that is renewable, e.g. agricultural crops and wastes.
Board
A committee that makes decisions about how a company should be run.
Bond
A certificate issued by a borrower of money. The borrower promises to pay the holder of the bond an agreed amount of interest on the money they have borrowed, over a defined period of time.
Brand
A symbol, logo and/or slogan that a company uses to make itself instantly recognisable to the public.
Brand attributes
The things that a particular brand stands for, also known as core values.
Budget
A plan for how money is to be saved and spent.
Business Plan
The strategy a company lays out for a specific period, usually three to five years. The plan will include cash flow forecasts, budgets, market research, and economic research.
Capital
In finance, capital means wealth in the form of money or property owned by a person or a business, especially that used to start or maintain a business.
Capital markets
Used by business and government to raise large sums of money to fund their activities. Banks work on behalf of the businesses and governments to organise loans and shares.
Cash withdrawal card
A card that allows you to take out money from your account when you insert it into a cash machine (ATM) and key in your Personal Identification Number (PIN). Also called cash cards.
Cheque guarantee card
A card that is used with a cheque to guarantee that your bank will pay the person or organisation named on the cheque the amount of money that the cheque is for.
Collateral
Property or goods which are used as security when someone takes out a loan. The property or goods are confiscated if the loan is not paid back.
Company
An institution created to do business.
Corporate
Another name for a business or company.
Corporate finance
Finance provided to large businesses/companies/organisations to fund their activities, such as acquisitions and investments.
Credit card
A card which allows you to buy goods immediately and pay for them later. There are agreed limits on how much money you can borrow in this way, and how long you have to repay it. Interest is charged if you don't repay in time.
Credit history
Information about your finances, including everything from buying a TV on an interest-free deal to opening a new credit card. Banks look at credit histories to judge if a client is reliable enough to be lent money.
Current account
An account with a bank or building society from which you can withdraw money without giving notice.
Debit card
A card which allows you to pay directly for goods or services by typing in your PIN. Also used to withdraw money from cash machines.
Digital
Using electronic (or optical) pulses to represent data in computer and telecommunications systems.
Diversity
The range of differences between individuals. These differences include ethnicity, gender, race, sexual orientation, physical ability, religious beliefs, age, and so on.
Entrepreneur
Someone who takes the financial risk of starting and running a business venture. Usually a creative, self-motivated, and visionary individual, who searches for change, responds to it, takes risks and uses their initiative to attempt to make profit.
Environmentally friendly
Describes goods, services or practices designed not to cause harm to the environment.
Ethical Dilemma
A situation in which there is a clash between two possible courses of action, both of which have good moral arguments to support them.
Focus Groups
A group discussion that is organised and supervised by researchers, to find out what people are thinking.
Hedge
To take out an investment specifically to balance out the risk in another investment. By 'hedging', businesses make profit from an investment activity, while protecting themselves against losing too much money if the investment goes wrong.
Hire purchase
A financial arrangement which enables someone to buy good, like a TV or computer, whilst paying for it in stages, over time.
House purchase loan scheme
This is another name for a mortgage.
Insurance services
Financial protection provided in case of loss or harm. For example, a customer can pay to insure their home against theft, or take out a policy which would make payments to them if they became seriously ill and were unable to work.
Interest
The fee you pay to borrow money, whether in the form of a loan, mortgage, credit card balance or other. The fee is a percentage of the amount you borrow – the size of the percentage depends on the interest rate.
Interest rates
Investment
Buying assets (such as shares, property or businesses) with the intention of using them to create more wealth in the future.
Investment bank
A bank which specialises in corporate (rather than personal) finance services, such as underwriting and buying and selling shares.
Investor
Someone who puts up the finance to fund a business. Investors in new businesses often take shares in the company in return.
IP network
An Internet Protocol network, which allows various types of information to be sent from point to point.
Loan
Money lent to people for things such as car purchases, holidays, home improvements, etc. These loans are often called personal loans. Businesses and government also borrow money, for many different reasons.
Magic Circle
A term used to describe what are considered to be the top five London law firms,which provide legal advice mainly to commercial organisations.
Market
An arrangement that lets buyers and sellers exchange things. A market can be an actual place, such as a shop or a stall, or it can occur through other arrangements, such as telephone or internet transactions. A market exists whenever and wherever a buyer and a seller make an exchange.
Merge
The joining together of two or more companies or organisations to form one bigger company.
Mission
An aim or a target that a company sets out to achieve.
Money transmission
Making payments between different banks or bank accounts.
Mortgage
A loan to help you buy property on condition that the company giving you the loan has certain rights, including the right to sell the property if you don't pay back the loan.
Multi-national corporation
A company that does business in more than one country.
Overdraft
An agreement with your bank to let you spend more money than you actually have, up to a certain agreed limit. As you are borrowing money from the bank, the bank can charge for this service.
Partner
Someone who is united or associated with a company in a venture
Partnerships
Partners joined together to invest in a business venture, sharing with each other the profits or losses they make.
Personal customer
A customer who requires a product or service for their own use, not for business or professional purposes.
Petrochemical
A chemical derived from crude oil, crude oil products, or natural gas. Petrochemicals are used in the manufacture of a wide range of products, e.g. synthetic rubber, nylon, polyester, plastics, and paints.
Pro bono
A Latin phrase used to describe work which is done for free for a charitable purpose. Lawyers who represent clients without charging them are said to be working 'pro bono'.
Savings account
An account with a bank or building society used to save money. Your money will often earn more interest in a savings account than in a current account, but you may have to give notice before withdrawing money.
Security
An item of value which someone who wants to borrow money promises to a lender as a guarantee that the loan will be repaid. Somebody wanting to borrow money might offer their house as security, for example. This is called a secured loan.
Share
A portion of the capital of a company which can be bought. Somebody who buys a share in a company becomes a shareholder in that company, and owns that fraction of the company.
Shareholder
A person who owns a share or shares of stock in a company
Social networking website
A website that allows people to create a page and link it to other people’s pages to form a group network, for example Facebook.
Sponsor
Someone that finances a project or an event carried out by someone else or a group, especially a business enterprise.
Stakeholders
Someone who has a share or interest in a company or enterprise.
Sustainability
In business, this means making sure that our actions do not use up too many natural resources or otherwise spoil the environment for future generations.
Turnover
The amount of business sales done over a period of time.
Utilities
Services like water, gas and electricity that are required to operate a building.
Valuation
How a company's value is worked out. It can either be done by putting a value on a company's existing assets, or by looking at its predicted future profits, or by looking at what other people are willing to pay for it.
Wealth management
How individual people manage their investments.