Anyone can search here common business terms from a wide range of common business terms that are related to every kind of business but are mainly used in business communication.
Common Business Terms (J)
Jettison
It is an act of throwing a part of the goods or anything from the ship with-a view to light Jobber. He is a dealer on the stock exchange. He deals with the other jobbers on the stock exchange and buys and sells securities on his own account.
Joint Stock Company
It is an association of persons united for the purpose of carrying on a business whose capital is formed of shares. The proportion of capital contributed to the joint stock is called a share. Every share is liable for the amount unpaid. Shares are transferable and may be sold at any time.
Journal
A journal literally means a daily record of news, events, activities, etc. In commerce, it refers to a book in which any of the records of the business are first written it is a daily register in which transactions are first analyzed into debits and credits. Transactions are recorded here in chronological order. In another sense, a journal is a scholarly publication published periodically by a professional association.
Judgment-debtor
A person who has been ordered by the court to repay his debt is known as a judgment debtor.
Jurquer
A juicer is a customs official who is entrusted with the duty of examining cargo or incoming vessels to find out if goods are smuggled or not.
Common Business Terms (K)
Keying of Advertisement
It refers to the adoption of such a method while advertising that the results thereof may be easily assessed.
Kite Flying
Dealing with accommodation bills (such bill being known as a kite) to raise money is called kite flying.
Common Business Terms (L)
Lalssez Faire
It is the principle of non? intervention by the government in any commercial affairs.
Lay Days
The term is used in shipping to signify the number of days (usually three) allowed to the master of a ship for loading or unloading the ship.
Letter of Allotment
It refers to a letter that intimates the share applicants the fact that they have been allotted shares.
Letter of Application
A letter that offers the company for subscription to its capital is called a letter of application. Again when a job seeker writes an application to the prospective employer for getting a job, the application is known as a letter of application.
Letter of Credit (L.C.)
It is an instrument issued by a bank at the request of a buyer of merchandise, whereby the bank itself gives a guarantee to make payment to the seller. In foreign trade, it is opened by an importer through his banker in favor of an exporter.
Letter of Hypothecation
An instrument that gives a firm, banker, or person a lien over goods in consideration for advances of money is known as a letter of hypothecation. In export trade, such a letter given to a bank for an advance made to the exporter authorizes it to sell the goods specified there in case the importer fails to pay or accept the bill presented by the bank.
Lien
Lien is a right exercised by one on someone else property for a debt or charge.
Life Insurance
Life insurance is a contract by which the life insurance company known as an insurer, in consideration of regular payment of premiums (stated amount of money) for a certain period or till the end of the life of the insured whichever is earlier agrees to pay a given sum of money to the insured himself or to the legal or indicated heir on the occurrence of the stated event.
Limited Company
It refers to a company in which the liability of each shareholder is limited to the face value of his share.
Liquidation
It is the legal process by which a company is put to an end.
Lock Out
It is a mechanism by which an employee locks out the business premises in order to prevent the entry of laborers, at the time of a dispute between an employer and the workforce.
Loco
Loco means the cost of the goods at the place of purchase in other words, it is an ex-warehouse price.
Common Business Terms (M)
Mail Order Business
This is a kind of retail business, which is carried on through the post office. The seller receives its orders and dispatches and ‘delivers the goods through the Post office usually by V.P.P.
Management Information System (MIS)
A management information system is a computerized structure that gathers comprehensive data, organizes and summarizes it in meaningful information, and then provides managers with the information needed to support operations and decision-making functions in an organization.
The information is provided often through an MIS division, the main objective of the MIS is to supply the right types and amount of information to-each level of management.
The key requirement for the proper functioning of the MIS is an effective combination of personnel, equipment, and supporting computer systems to provide useful information.
Any single, factor is not sufficient to carry out the entire system. Within the MIS there are various subsystems to carry out specialized information.
Five such subsystems are the management support system (MSS), the decision support system (DSS), the accounting information system (AIS), the office information system (OIS), and the data manipulation and reporting system.
Manifest
It is a document containing a statement of the marks, numbers, etc. of the various packages comprised in the cargo of a ship, the number of the crew,-the name and destination of the ship. The document is to be signed by the master of the ship and shown to the customs authority before sailing.
Marine Insurance
Marine insurance is a contract of indemnity whereby the insurer or the underwriter agrees to indemnify the assured against marine losses in consideration of a monthly payment called the premium.
Market Price
It refers to the value of a thing prevailing in the market during a short period when there is the possibility of adjusting the supply of a commodity to the influences of demand.
Mate’s Receipt
It is a document given by the mate (master) of a ship acknowledging that the goods have been received on board.
Memorandum of Association
It is the most important document of a joint-stock company. It is the primary constitution within and inside which the company has to function. It forms the charter on the basis of which the company is brought into existence and it defines its powers and objects. A company can do nothing beyond the powers stated in it, It controls the external relationship of the company.
Minimum Subscription
It is the minimum amount of money, which in the opinion of the directors, must be raised by share subscription in order to enable the company to provide for certain statutory specified matters viz. Preliminary expenses, purchase price of any property, working capital, etc. No allotment of shares can be made unless the minimum subscription is subscribed by the applicants for shares.
Minute Book
A book in which the resolutions of different meetings of the company are written, a permanent record is called a minute book.
Money
Anything that passes freely from hand to hand as a medium of exchange and is generally received in the final discharge of debt is known as money.
Monopoly
A monopoly means the sole power of dealing with any commodity. It signifies an exclusive right secured by one or more persons to carry on some business.
Moratorium
This is an emergency act of allowing an extension of time by the government of a country to repay loans. Under exceptional circumstances, the government takes this step, which deprives all creditors of the right of realizing their debts, for the time being, this is specially done in the case of a government bank, which during an emergency suspends payment.
Mortgage
Literally, mort means dead and gage means a pledge. Any security for a debt, which is lost or becomes dead in case the money or the interest due thereon is not paid on a certain day is called a mortgage. A mortgage thus is the conveyance of the property by a borrower in favor of a lender as security for the repayment of money, borrowed together with interest.
Multinational company
A Multinational Company is an enterprise that has an integrated global philosophy encompassing domestic, as well as overseas operations. This is a more complex form that usually has fully autonomous units operating in multiple countries: Shell and Philips, for example, two MNCs have given the foreign subsidiaries a great deal of latitude to address local issues such as consumer preferences, political pressures, and the like. These subsidiaries are frequently run as independent companies without much integration.
Common Business Terms (N)
Naked Debenture
These are the debentures in which the company promises to pay the lenders (holders of debenture) interest at a fixed rate and also to repay the capital. These promises are given without security (or any asset of the company) to the lenders. Such debentures are also known as ordinary or simple debentures and are very uncommon.
Nationalization
It means taking over control, and the management of industrial and commercial organizations by the government from the hands of the private enterprise.
Negotiable Instrument (Document)
A Negotiable Instrument such as a bill of exchange, which can be transferred from one person to another by endorsement on the back of it, conveys to the transferee a legal right to the property named therein free from the claim of any other persons whatsoever.
Nominal Partner
A person who is not a partner but merely lends his name to the firm for the interest of business is known as a nominal partner. A nominal partner, in the eyes of the general public, is a member of the business concern and thus, under certain circumstances, may obligate the firm members by his acts and becomes liable for the debts of the firm.
Notary public
A notary public is a public officer who is appointed by the government. His duty is to certify the deeds and other documents and to note the non-acceptance or non-payment of bills of exchange and protest them later, if necessary.
Noting -a Bill
When a bill of exchange is dishonored either by non-acceptance or non? payment, the holder of the bill places .it in the hands of a notary public who represents the bill to the drawee for acceptance or to the acceptor for payment as the case may be. If the bill is again dishonored, the notary public records the fact either upon the bill or in a slip of paper enclosed therewith. The procedure of so certifying the fact of dishonor is called Noting.
Common Business Terms (O)
One price Shop
One price shop is a type of retail shop where a large number and a variety of articles necessary for our everyday use are traded. The peculiarity of the shop is that the price of all the commodities dealt therein is one and fixed-irrespective of the nature and quality of the goods.
Open Market Operations
This refers to the purchase or sale of securities in the market by the central bank on its own initiative to control the volume of credit in the country.
Organized Market
This is a type of market whose proceedings are governed by written rules and customs.
Overhead Expenditure
It refers to all indirect expenditures of general nature that cannot be directly charged to the particular article produced e.g. factory rent, salaries to foremen! etc.
Common Business Terms (P)
Patent
It is an exclusive right or privilege given to an investor for making, using, or selling an invention and preventing others from copying it.
Perils- of the Sea
The term ‘perils of the sea’ used in marine policy do not include every casualty, which may occur to the subject matter of the insurance on the sea.
It includes only the casualties that result from the violent action of the elements as distinguished from the silent natural and gradual action of the elements upon the vessel itself.
Thus the insurer will be liable only if the loss or damage is the proximate result of the fortuitous accident of the sea, e.g., the action of a storm, cyclone, waves, etc.
Power of Attorney
It refers to a document in which one person gives power to another to sell or act on his behalf in respect of the matter specified in the document.
Preference Shares
Preference shares are those shares holders which enjoy some special privileges either in the payment of a fixed dividend before any dividend is paid to other classes of shareholders or in the return of capital or both.
Premium
If denotes the money periodically paid by the insured to the insurance company in respect of- a policy whereby the latter agrees to cover the former against certain kinds of goods or other insurable objects. The term is also used to signify something which is above the nominal or fixed price.
Press Release
A press release is an official announcement. It is a statement giving information to the press for its publication. Information is prepared by its own staff of the organization. The press release covers important events e.g. the company issued a press release, to end speculation about its future.
Private Limited Company
It is a company formed by two or more persons but not exceeding fifty people it prohibits any invitation to the public to subscribe to its shares and restricts the right of its shareholders to transfer their shares. The liability of the members of a private limited company is limited.
Pro-forma Invoice
The word, ”Pro-forma” means in the form of; the Pro-forma invoice is thus not an actual invoice but is in the form of an invoice that shows the nature, quality, quantity, number, weight, measurement, price, etc. of the goods sent on consignment. The price quoted on it may be cost price or selling price, which the consignee is to charge, or an indication of a morpheme price below which the consignee must not sell. It is sent by the consignor to the consignee.
Promissory Note
It is an unconditional promise in writing made by one person to another to pay a stated amount of money to a specified person or to the order of a certain person to the earner at a fixed date or on-demand.
Prospectus
A prospectus is an invitation by a company to the public to subscribe to the share capital of the company, thus any notice, circular, advertisement, or any other invitation, (except trade advertisement), circulated to the public is known as a prospectus. It supplies the public with all the necessary information about the business of the company.
Proxy
He is a voting agent. If the articles provide, a member of a joint-stock company competent to vote may excise his voting right in a meeting either personally or through some representative duly appointed for the purpose. Such a voting agent is called a proxy.
Public Finance
Public finance is that branch of economics, that deals with the management of income, expenditures, and debts of the government. In public finance, the public authorities adjust their income to the needed expenditures.
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