Definition of Except for opinion

Except for opinion

An auditor's opinion reflecting the fact that the auditor was unable to audit certain areas
of the company's operations because of restrictions imposed by management or other conditions beyond the
auditor's control.

Clean opinion

An auditor's opinion reflecting an unqualified acceptance of a company's financial statements.

Disclaimer of opinion

An auditor's statement disclaiming any opinion regarding the company's financial
condition.

Opinion shopping

A practice prohibited by the SEC which involves attempts by a corporation to obtain
reporting objectives by following questionable accounting principles with the help of a pliable auditor willing
to go along with the desired treatment.

Subject to opinion

An auditor's opinion reflecting acceptance of a company's financial statements subject to
pervasive uncertainty that cannot be adequately measured, such as information relating to the value of
inventories, reserves for losses, or other matters subject to judgment.

Clean price

Bond price excluding accrued interest.

Flat price (also clean price)

The quoted newspaper price of a bond that does not include accrued interest.
The price paid by purchaser is the full price.

Clean Float

A flexible exchange rate system in which the government does not intervene.

ADF (annuity discount factor)

the present value of a finite stream of cash flows for every beginning $1 of cash flow.

control premium

the additional value inherent in the control interest as contrasted to a minority interest, which reflects its power of control

DLOC (discount for lack of control)

an amount or percentage deducted from a pro rata share of the value of 100% of an equity interest in a business, to reflect the absence of some or all of the powers of control.

PPF (periodic perpetuity factor)

a generalization formula invented by Abrams that is the present value of regular but noncontiguous cash flows that have constant growth to perpetuity.

Amortization factor

The pool factor implied by the scheduled amortization assuming no prepayemts.

Annuity factor

Present value of $1 paid for each of t periods.

Asset/liability management

Also called surplus management, the task of managing funds of a financial
institution to accomplish the two goals of a financial institution:
1) to earn an adequate return on funds invested, and
2) to maintain a comfortable surplus of assets beyond liabilities.

Auditor's report

A section of an annual report containing the auditor's opinion about the veracity of the
financial statements.

Banker's acceptance

A short-term credit investment created by a non-financial firm and guaranteed by a
bank as to payment. acceptances are traded at discounts from face value in the secondary market. These
instruments have been a popular investment for money market funds. They are commonly used in
international transactions.

Blue-chip company

Large and creditworthy company.

Bottom-up equity management style

A management style that de-emphasizes the significance of economic
and market cycles, focusing instead on the analysis of individual stocks.

Cash flow from operations

A firm's net cash inflow resulting directly from its regular operations
(disregarding extraordinary items such as the sale of fixed assets or transaction costs associated with issuing
securities), calculated as the sum of net income plus non-cash expenses that were deducted in calculating net
income.

Cash management bill

Very short maturity bills that the Treasury occasionally sells because its cash
balances are down and it needs money for a few days.

Certainty equivalent

An amount that would be accepted in lieu of a chance at a possible higher, but
uncertain, amount.

Changes in Financial Position

Sources of funds internally provided from operations that alter a company's
cash flow position: depreciation, deferred taxes, other sources, and capital expenditures.

Common stock/other equity

Value of outstanding common shares at par, plus accumulated retained
earnings. Also called shareholders' equity.

Company-specific risk

Related: Unsystematic risk

Conditional sales contracts

Similar to equipment trust certificates except that the lender is either the
equipment manufacturer or a bank or finance company to whom the manufacturer has sold the conditional
sales contract.

Control

50% of the outstanding votes plus one vote.

Controlled disbursement

A service that provides for a single presentation of checks each day (typically in
the early part of the day).

Controlled foreign corporation (CFC)

A foreign corporation whose voting stock is more than 50% owned
by U.S. stockholders, each of whom owns at least 10% of the voting power.

Controller

The corporate manager responsible for the firm's accounting activities.

Convention statement

An annual statement filed by a life insurance company in each state where it does
business in compliance with that state's regulations. The statement and supporting documents show, among
other things, the assets, liabilities, and surplus of the reporting company.

Conversion factors

Rules set by the Chicago Board of Trade for determining the invoice price of each
acceptable deliverable Treasury issue against the Treasury Bond futures contract.

Corporate financial management

The application of financial principals within a corporation to create and
maintain value through decision making and proper resource management.

Corporate financial planning

financial planning conducted by a firm that encompasses preparation of both
long- and short-term financial plans.

Cost company arrangement

Arrangement whereby the shareholders of a project receive output free of
charge but agree to pay all operating and financing charges of the project.

Country financial risk

The ability of the national economy to generate enough foreign exchange to meet
payments of interest and principal on its foreign debt.

De facto

Existing in actual fact although not by official recognition.

Depository Trust Company (DTC)

DTC is a user-owned securities depository which accepts deposits of
eligible securities for custody, executes book-entry deliveries and records book-entry pledges of securities in
its custody, and provides for withdrawals of securities from its custody.

Discount factor

Present value of $1 received at a stated future date.

Dupont system of financial control

Highlights the fact that return on assets (ROA) can be expressed in terms
of the profit margin and asset turnover.

Eligible bankers' acceptances

In the BA market, an acceptance may be referred to as eligible because it is
acceptable by the Fed as collateral at the discount window and/or because the accepting bank can sell it
without incurring a reserve requirement.

Exchange controls

Governmental restrictions on the purchase of foreign currencies by domestic citizens or
on the purchase of the local domestic currency by foreigners.

Factor

A financial institution that buys a firm's accounts receivables and collects the debt.

Factor analysis

A statistical procedure that seeks to explain a certain phenomenon, such as the return on a
common stock, in terms of the behavior of a set of predictive factors.

Factor model

A way of decomposing the factors that influence a security's rate of return into common and
firm-specific influences.

Factor portfolio

A well-diversified portfolio constructed to have a beta of 1.0 on one factor and a beta of
zero on any other factors.

Factoring

Sale of a firm's accounts receivable to a financial institution known as a factor.

Financial analysts

Also called securities analysts and investment analysts, professionals who analyze
financial statements, interview corporate executives, and attend trade shows, in order to write reports
recommending either purchasing, selling, or holding various stocks.

Financial assets

Claims on real assets.

Financial control

The management of a firm's costs and expenses in order to control them in relation to
budgeted amounts.

Financial distress

Events preceding and including bankruptcy, such as violation of loan contracts.

Financial distress costs

Legal and administrative costs of liquidation or reorganization. Also includes
implied costs associated with impaired ability to do business (indirect costs).

Financial engineering

Combining or dividing existing instruments to create new financial products.

Financial future

A contract entered into now that provides for the delivery of a specified asset in exchange
for the selling price at some specified future date.

Financial intermediaries

Institutions that provide the market function of matching borrowers and lenders or
traders.

Financial lease

Long-term, non-cancelable lease.

Financial leverage

Use of debt to increase the expected return on equity. financial leverage is measured by
the ratio of debt to debt plus equity.

Financial leverage clientele

A group of investors who have a preference for investing in firms that adhere to
a particular financial leverage policy.

Financial leverage ratios

Related: capitalization ratios.

Financial market

An organized institutional structure or mechanism for creating and exchanging financial assets.

Financial objectives

Objectives of a financial nature that the firm will strive to accomplish during the period
covered by its financial plan.

Financial plan

A financial blueprint for the financial future of a firm.

Financial planning

The process of evaluating the investing and financing options available to a firm. It
includes attempting to make optimal decisions, projecting the consequences of these decisions for the firm in
the form of a financial plan, and then comparing future performance against that plan.

Financial press

That portion of the media devoted to reporting financial news.

Financial ratio

The result of dividing one financial statement item by another. Ratios help analysts interpret
financial statements by focussing on specific relationships.

Financial risk

The risk that the cash flow of an issuer will not be adequate to meet its financial obligations.
Also referred to as the additional risk that a firm's stockholder bears when the firm utilizes debt and equity.

Foreign exchange controls

Various forms of controls imposed by a government on the purchase/sale of
foreign currencies by residents or on the purchase/sale of local currency by nonresidents.

Funds From Operations (FFO)

Used by real estate and other investment trusts to define the cash flow from
trust operations. It is earnings with depreciation and amortization added back. A similar term increasingly
used is Funds Available for Distribution (FAD), which is FFO less capital investments in trust property and
the amortization of mortgages.

Holding company

A corporation that owns enough voting stock in another firm to control management and
operations by influencing or electing its board of directors.

Income statement (statement of operations)

A statement showing the revenues, expenses, and income (the
difference between revenues and expenses) of a corporation over some period of time.

Inflation uncertainty

The fact that future inflation rates are not known. It is a possible contributing factor to
the makeup of the term structure of interest rates.

Intercompany loan

Loan made by one unit of a corporation to another unit of the same corporation.

Intercompany transaction

Transaction carried out between two units of the same corporation.

London International Financial Futures Exchange (LIFFE)

A London exchange where Eurodollar futures
as well as futures-style options are traded.

Long-term financial plan

financial plan covering two or more years of future operations.

London International Financial Futures Exchange (LIFFE)

London exchange where Eurodollar futures as well as futures-style options are traded.

Management/closely held shares

Percentage of shares held by persons closely related to a company, as
defined by the Securities and exchange commission. Part of these percentages often is included in
Institutional Holdings -- making the combined total of these percentages over 100. There is overlap as
institutions sometimes acquire enough stock to be considered by the SEC to be closely allied to the company.

Management buyout (MBO)

Leveraged buyout whereby the acquiring group is led by the firm's management.

Management fee

An investment advisory fee charged by the financial advisor to a fund based on the fund's
average assets, but sometimes determined on a sliding scale that declines as the dollar amount of the fund increases.

Manufactured housing securities (MHSs)

Loans on manufactured homes - that is, factory-built or
prefabricated housing, including mobile homes.

Maturity factoring

factoring arrangement that provides collection and insurance of accounts receivable.

Money management

Related: Investment management.

Multifactor CAPM

A version of the capital asset pricing model derived by Merton that includes extramarket
sources of risk referred to as factor.

Net benefit to leverage factor

A linear approximation of a factor, T*, that enables one to operationalize the
total impact of leverage on firm value in the capital market imperfections view of capital structure.

Non-financial services

Include such things as freight, insurance, passenger services, and travel.

Notes to the financial statements

A detailed set of notes immediately following the financial statements in
an annual report that explain and expand on the information in the financial statements.

Official statement

A statement published by an issuer of a new municipal security describing itself and the issue

Old-line factoring

factoring arrangement that provides collection, insurance, and finance for accounts receivable.

One-factor APT

A special case of the arbitrage pricing theory that is derived from the one-factor model by
using diversification and arbitrage. It shows the expected return on any risky asset is a linear function of a
single factor.

Opinion shopping

A practice prohibited by the SEC which involves attempts by a corporation to obtain
reporting objectives by following questionable accounting principles with the help of a pliable auditor willing
to go along with the desired treatment.

Other capital

In the balance of payments, other capital is a residual category that groups all the capital
transactions that have not been included in direct investment, portfolio investment, and reserves categories. It
is divided into long-term capital and short-term capital and, because of its residual status, can differ from
country to country. Generally speaking, other long-term capital includes most non-negotiable instruments of a
year or more like bank loans and mortgages. other short-term capital includes financial assets of less than a
year such as currency, deposits, and bills.

Other current assets

Value of non-cash assets, including prepaid expenses and accounts receivable, due
within 1 year.

Other long term liabilities

Value of leases, future employee benefits, deferred taxes and other obligations
not requiring interest payments that must be paid over a period of more than 1 year.

Other sources

Amount of funds generated during the period from operations by sources other than
depreciation or deferred taxes. Part of Free cash flow calculation.

Passive investment management

Buying a well-diversified portfolio to represent a broad-based market
index without attempting to search out mispriced securities.

Perfectly competitive financial markets

Markets in which no trader has the power to change the price of
goods or services. Perfect capital markets are characterized by the following conditions: 1) trading is costless,
and access to the financial markets is free, 2) information about borrowing and lending opportunities is freely
available, 3) there are many traders, and no single trader can have a significant impact on market prices.

Pool factor

The outstanding principal balance divided by the original principal balance with the result
expressed as a decimal. Pool factors are published monthly by the Bond Buyer newspaper for Ginnie Mae,
Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac(Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation) MBSs.

Portfolio management

Related: Investment management

Post-audit

A set of procedures for evaluating a capital budgeting decision after the fact.

Present value factor

factor used to calculate an estimate of the present value of an amount to be received in
a future period.

Pro forma financial statements

financial statements as adjusted to reflect a projected or planned transaction.

Pro forma statement

A financial statement showing the forecast or projected operating results and balance
sheet, as in pro forma income statements, balance sheets, and statements of cash flows.

Registration statement

A legal document that is filed with the SEC to register securities for public offering.

Reported factor

The pool factor as reported by the bond buyer for a given amortization period.

Risk controlled arbitrage

A self-funding, self-hedged series of transactions that generally utilize mortgage
securities as the primary assets.

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