30 Easy-to-learn English Terms for Accounting

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Are you an accountant or a bookkeeper, or planning to become one soon?

Even if youre not, when youre in business, you want to be able to talk about every aspect of businessincluding useful things like accounting.

No matter what, you can generally improve your business English by learning some key accounting terms.

Sound great? Looks like we have just the thing for you!

Accounting, just like information technology, trade, sales and marketing, is one of those very specific business areas in which you need to have the right word at the right
time. Accounting is about keeping track of money, so you simply cant afford to make mistakes.

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How Can I Learn English Vocabulary for Accounting?

All you need to do is read each word or phrase carefully, then have a look at the definition and examples. In general, when learning new vocabulary its a good idea to avoid
translating the new words into your native language. With such a specific field like accounting, however, it may be easier for you if you try to think of each term in your native
language, because youre probably already using the term.

Also, if youre not sure about the way each word is pronounced, its always best to check the pronunciation in an online dictionary or dictionary app, most of which can
pronounce the word so you can hear and repeat it.

If you need an accounting dictionary to check specific accounting terms, have a look at this dictionary provided by Accounting Coach , which also offers other valuable tools
like quizzes and bookkeeping training topics. After you feel like you really understand the word, try to think of your own example sentences.

At the end of this post youll find an exercise to check your knowledge of the new words youve learned. It also includes an answer key to see how well you did! After that,
you can do even more exercises online to improve your knowledge of accounting words.

If you want more exercises, ProProfs Quiz Maker gives you a few exercises that test both your vocabulary and your knowledge of accounting. We also like
English4Accounting because it tests your accounting vocabulary in context through reading and listening exercises.

30 Easy-to-learn English Terms for Accounting

Definition: Everything a company owns, including cash, accounts receivable (money a company is going to receive, see below), property and goods.

Example:

The companys assets were easy to calculate, but it was difficult to quantify the value of the employees expertise.

2. Liabilities

Definition: Everything that a company owes to others, like loans and mortgages.

Example:

Liabilities are recorded on the right side of the balance sheet, while assets are listed on the left.

3. Balance Sheet

Definition: A document that records a companys assets and liabilities at a certain moment in time. If were talking about a public company, it also shows the shareholders
equity (how much the shareholders own).

The balance sheet is based on the accounting equation:

assets = liabilities + owners equity

The balance sheet is important for potential investors because they can see how the company is doing.

Example:

We studied the balance sheet carefully to see if the assets exceeded the liabilities and shareholders equity.

4. Debit

Definition: An entry that shows what a company spends. Debits are recorded on the left side of an account.

Example:

She recorded the purchase of the new laptops as a debit entry.

Definition: An entry that shows how much money a company receives. Credits are recorded on the right side of accounts.

Example:

She realized that the total debits didnt equal the total credits, so she had to check each entry all over again.

6. Double Entry

Definition: An accounting system in which each transaction is recorded as both a credit and a debit, an asset and a liability.

Example:

Double entry bookkeeping gives you a better perspective than single entry bookkeeping because it helps you make sure each transaction is accurately recorded.

7. Net

Definition: An amount of money that is left after taxes have been paid.

Example:

She couldnt tell me her net salary because she didnt know all the taxes she was paying; moreover, salaries are not transparent in her company.

8. Gross

Definition: An amount of money before taxes are deducted.

Example:

Her gross income exceeded his, but they still couldnt afford to get the house theyd been dreaming about for such a long time.

9. Profit

Definition: The money a business is left with after deducting all the expenses.

Example:

In order to decide if the company was worth investing in, they wanted to look at the profit it had been making over the previous year.

10. Revenue

Definition: The total amount of money a company receives from the services or products it sells. The revenue is higher than the profit, because in order to calculate the
profit, you need to first see the costs of doing business.

Example:

Our company has experienced a decrease in revenue due to the financial crisis.

11. Capital

Definition: Cash and funds, but also machinery and tangible assets that can contribute to earning more money, like computers, company vehicles, etc. Intangible assets
like expertise or reputation are not considered to be capital.

Example:

He couldnt start a business because he didnt have enough capital, so he decided to work as a freelancer for the time being.

12. Cash Flow

Definition: Money coming in (inflows) and going out (outflows) of a company.

Example:

They had a cash flow problem because only a small percentage of their customers decided to use early settlement discounts, which meant that they had very high
financing costs.

13. Payroll

Definition: A list of all a companys employees and their salaries. The word payroll also refers to the total amount of money paid by a company to its employees.

Example:

They have a lot of employees on their payroll, so they employ quite a few payroll accountants to calculate employee earnings.

14. Accounts Payable

Definition: Money that a company owes to other partiescompanies or peoplecalled creditors. Accounts payable are considered liabilities.

Example:

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All of the accounts payable need to be cleared before we can invest in new software.

15. Accounts Receivable

Definition: Money that a company has to receive for products or services bought by customers or clients.

Example:

You can calculate the accounts receivable by adding up all the invoices the company generated.

16. Appreciation

Definition: The increase in the value of a companys assets. Appreciation can be the result of an increase in demand for a product or service. The verb form is to
appreciate.

Example:

Although their balance sheet didnt look very promising, the company seemed worth investing in because of an anticipated appreciation in the value of their product.

17. Depreciation

Definition: The decrease in the value of products or services a company offers. Depreciation can be due to a high supply of similar products or services offered by
competitors. The verb form is to depreciate.

Example:

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Because the company had almost no competitors just a year ago, nobody would have thought that their products would depreciate so much.

18. Overhead

Definition: All the expenses a company needs to pay for, like the costs of advertising, labor, bills and taxes.

Example:

Their overhead expenses were so high that they had been making very little profit, so they decided to cut back on marketing.

19. Accounting Period

Definition: The time period over which financial statements are produced, usually a year.

Example:

The accounting period the investors were interested in was longer than a financial year because they wanted to get the big picture of the companys profitability.

20. Financial Statements

Definition: Documents that show the financial situation of a company. They include the balance sheet (showing assets, liabilities and shareholders equity, see above), the
income statement (showing revenues and expenses) and statement of cash flows (showing cash flow fluctuations in a certain accounting period).

Example:

The accountants were all busy working on the financial statements as the company was planning to refinance its loans.

21. Share

Definition: A unit of ownership in a company. The person or organization who owns shares (the shareholder, see below) is entitled to dividends (usually cash), but they also
share the responsibility if there are losses.

Example:

He decided to invest in shares of a very profitable company instead of considering a savings account, because he was sure he could make money fast and he enjoyed
taking risks.

22. Shareholder

Definition: A person or organization (company or any other institution) that owns shares in a company. Shareholders are, in a way, the owners of a company. If the
company is doing well, the value of the shares goes up. If, on the contrary, the company is not profitable, the value of its shares decreases.

Example:

Because he was a shareholder in the company, he had to attend annual General Meetings in order to keep up with the latest news and to vote for new members of the
Board of Directors.

23. Owners Equity

Definition: A part of a companys assets that the owner has. Its calculated as assets minus liabilities.

Example:

Unfortunately, in his companys case, the owners equity didnt amount to much: they had a lot of liabilities and not enough assets.

24. Auditor

Definition: A person whose job is to evaluate accounting records in order to make sure they have been done properly and to check if the company is being run efficiently.

Example:

When the auditors asked for additional information about the financial statements, our accountants complied without delay.

25. Bookkeeper

Definition: A person whose job is to record daily transactions, issue invoices and complete payrolls. Bookkeepers are usually supervised by accountants. Bookkeepers are
required to have less experience than accountants and dont need a degree in accounting.

Example:

She was training to become an accountant, but in the meantime she had a part-time job as a bookkeeper.

26. Chartered Accountant

Definition: An accountant who has a certain amount of experience and who has passed certain exams that qualify them to be a member of an institution, such as the
Institute of Chartered Accountants in the UK. In the US a similar title is that of Certified Public Accountant (CPA).

Example:

Shes been studying to become a chartered accountant for a few years now, but she just couldnt manage to pass the final exam.

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27. Creative Accounting

Definition: An accounting practice that tries to present an improved image of a companys financial situation by highlighting mainly the aspects that are favorable. Creative
accounting is considered to be legal, but is often seen as unethical.

Example:

As soon as our potential investor realized we had done some creative accounting, they decided to hire an auditor.

28. Income Tax

Definition: Money that individuals and companies owe to the government, based on the income they make.

Example:

She was a sole proprietor and she hired an accountant to file her income tax return every year.

29. Value Added Tax (VAT)

Definition: A tax that consumers pay on most products and services, except most food and drugs. Not all countries have a VAT system. In the US, most states have
something similar, called a sales tax.

Example:

The bookkeeper had to calculate the Value Added Tax in order to issue the invoice.

30. Return on Investment (ROI)

Definition: The profitability ratio of a certain investment. The return on investment is calculated as the benefit gained from the investment divided by the cost of the
investment.

Example:

As their return on investment hit the lowest point in the last 5 years, they decided to stop investing in our company.

Exercise
Look at the following sentences and choose the correct answer. Sometimes, theres more than one correct answer.

When youre done, check your answers in the key at the bottom!

1. They had to hire a(n) ___ because Jane was not qualified to produce all the documents for the audit in June.

A. auditor B. accountant C. bookkeeper

2./3. Her ___(2.) salary at her new workplace was higher than her ___(3.) salary in the old one, so she was much happier here.

2. A. net B. gross

3. A. net B. gross

4./5./6. The basic accounting equation is: ___(4.) = ___(5.) + ___(6.)

4. A. assets B. liabilities C. owners equity

5. A. liabilities B. owners equity C. assets

6. A. owners equity B. assets C. liabilities

7./8. In order to see what a companys ___(7.) is/are, you need to have a look at the ___(8.) and subtract all the expenses of doing business.

7. A. profit B. capital C. revenues

8. A. revenues B. profit C. liabilities

9. The ___ is an important accounting document showing a companys assets, liabilities and the owners equity.

A. cash flow statement B. balance sheet C. income statement

10./11./12. In ___(10.), you need to record ___(11.) on the left side and ___(12.) on the right side.

10. A. double entry bookkeeping B. single entry bookkeeping

11. A. debits B. credits

12. A. credits B. debits

13. He was hoping to be able to raise enough ___ to set up his own business in five years time.

A. assets B. capital C. equity

14. As she was calculating the companys liabilities, she realized she forgot to include the ___.

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A. accounts payable B. accounts receivable

15. They wanted to resort to ___ in order to convince investors of their companys high profitability, but then they realized that the auditors that worked for the investors
would see right through it.

A. bookkeeping B. accounting C. creative accounting

16. He had been trying to pass his exams in order to become a(n) ___, but in the end he gave up and decided to charge a higher fee for his bookkeeping services in order
to make ends meet.

A. chartered accountant B. shareholder C. investor

17. The auditor was looking at the financial statements that the company presented him when he realized he was actually interested in a different ___. He then had to ask
for a different set of financial statements.

A. income statement B. payroll C. accounting period

18. She was considering giving up working as an accountant for that company and becoming a self-employed freelancer because the ___ she had to pay was lower. She
also had the expertise to file her own tax return, which was an additional advantage.

A. income tax B. Value Added Tax

19. The idea of becoming a shareholder seemed really bad now that the ___ was lower than in any other previous year.

A. share price B. return on investment

20. Their ___ was too high during the past few months, so they have been thinking of either not giving their employees any bonuses this year or investing less in
advertising.

A. overhead B. appreciation C. depreciation

Now have a look at the key below and see how well you did!

Answer Key
1. B
2. A
3. B
4. A
5. B or A
6. C (if 5 is B) or A (if 5 is A)
7. A
8. A
9. B
10. A
11. A
12. A
13. B
14. A
15. C
16. A
17. C
18. A
19. B
20. A

Dont forget to keep the words that are most important for you and your business activity handy, so that you can find them easily and check their exact meaning, spelling and
pronunciation.

Now that youve learned and practiced all these words, the only thing left is to incorporate them into your daily business English use!

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