Definition of Information Coefficient (IC)

Information Coefficient (IC)

The correlation between predicted and actual stock returns, sometimes used to
measure the value of a financial analyst. An ic of 1.0 indicates a perfect linear relationship between predicted
and actual returns, while an ic of 0.0 indicates no linear relationship.

ABC inventory classification

A method for dividing inventory into classifications,
either by transaction volume or cost. Typically, category A includes that 20% of
inventory involving 60% of all costs or transactions, while category B includes
the next 20% of inventory involving 20% of all costs or transactions, and category
C includes the remaining 60% of inventory involving 20% of all costs or
transactions.

Accomodating Policy

A monetary policy of matching wage and price increases with money supply increases so that the real money supply does not fall and push the economy into recession.

Accounting Policies

The principles, bases, conventions, rules and procedures adopted by management in preparing and presenting financial statements.

acid test ratio (also called the quick ratio)

The sum of cash, accounts receivable, and short-term marketable
investments (if any) is divided by
total current liabilities to compute this ratio. Suppose that the short-term
creditors were to pounce on a business and not agree to roll over the
debts owed to them by the business. In this rather extreme scenario, the
acid test ratio reveals whether its cash and near-cash assets are enough
to pay its short-term current liabilities. This ratio is an extreme test that
is not likely to be imposed on a business unless it is in financial straits.
This ratio is quite relevant when a business is in a liquidation situation
or bankruptcy proceedings.

Administrative pricing rules

IRS rules used to allocate income on export sales to a foreign sales corporation.

Aggressive Capitalization Policies

Capitalizing and reporting as assets significant portions of
expenditures, the realization of which require unduly optimistic assumptions.

algebraic method

a process of service department cost allocation
that considers all interrelationships of the departments
and reflects these relationships in simultaneous
equations

American Depositary Receipts (ADRs)

Certificates issued by a U.S. depositary bank, representing foreign
shares held by the bank, usually by a branch or correspondent in the country of issue. One ADR may
represent a portion of a foreign share, one share or a bundle of shares of a foreign corporation. If the ADR's
are "sponsored," the corporation provides financial information and other assistance to the bank and may
subsidize the administration of the ADRs. "Unsponsored" ADRs do not receive such assistance. ADRs carry
the same currency, political and economic risks as the underlying foreign share; the prices of the two, adjusted for the SDR/ordinary ratio, are kept essentially identical by arbitrage. American depositary shares(ADSs) are
a similar form of certification.

American option

An option that may be exercised at any time up to and including the expiration date.
Related: European option

American option

An option that can be exercised any time until its
expiration date. Contrast with European option.

American shares

Securities certificates issued in the U.S. by a transfer agent acting on behalf of the foreign
issuer. The certificates represent claims to foreign equities.

American Stock Exchange (AMEX)

The second-largest stock exchange in the United States. It trades
mostly in small-to medium-sized companies.

American-style option

An option contract that can be exercised at any time between the date of purchase and
the expiration date. Most exchange-traded options are American style.

Analytical Review

The process of attempting to infer the presence of potential problems
through the analysis of ratios and other relationships, often over time.

Anticipation

Arrangements whereby customers who pay before the final date may be entitled to deduct a
normal rate of interest.

Applicant

The party applying for an insurance policy.

Application

A signed statement of facts made by a person applying for life insurance and then used by the insurance company to decide whether or not to issue a policy. The application becomes part of the insurance contract when the policy is issued.

Arbitrage-free option-pricing models

Yield curve option-pricing models.

Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT)

An alternative model to the capital asset pricing model developed by
Stephen Ross and based purely on arbitrage arguments.

Arithmetic average (mean) rate of return

Arithmetic mean return.

Arithmetic mean return

An average of the subperiod returns, calculated by summing the subperiod returns
and dividing by he number of subperiods.

Arm's length price

The price at which a willing buyer and a willing unrelated seller would freely agree to
transact.

Articles of incorporation

Legal document establishing a corporation and its structure and purpose.

Articulation

When numbers from different financial statements relate to one another.

Ask price

A dealer's price to sell a security; also called the offer price.

Asset pricing model

A model for determining the required rate of return on an asset.

Asset pricing model

A model, such as the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM), that determines the required
rate of return on a particular asset.

Asset-specific Risk

The amount of total risk that can be eliminated by diversification by
creating a portfolio. Also known as company-specific risk or
unsystematic risk.

Asymmetric information

information that is known to some people but not to other people.

Asymmetric taxes

A situation wherein participants in a transaction have different net tax rates.

Automatic Benefits Payment

Automatic payment of moneys derived from a benefit.

Automatic Stabilizer

Any feature built into the economy that automatically cushions fluctuations.

Automatic stay

The restricting of liability holders from collection efforts of collateral seizure, which is
automatically imposed when a firm files for bankruptcy under Chapter 11.

Automatic Waiver of Premium

A benefit that automatically forfeits premium payments.

Back office

Brokerage house clerical operations that support, but do not include, the trading of stocks and
other securities. Includes all written confirmation and settlement of trades, record keeping and regulatory
compliance.
Back-end loan fund
A mutual fund that charges investors a fee to sell (redeem) shares, often ranging from
4% to 6%. Some back-end load funds impose a full commission if the shares are redeemed within a
designated time, such as one year. The commission decreases the longer the investor holds the shares. The
formal name for the back-end load is the contingent deferred sales charge, or CDSC.

BAN (Bank anticipation notes)

Notes issued by states and municipalities to obtain interim financing for
projects that will eventually be funded long term through the sale of a bond issue.

Bargain-purchase-price option

Gives the lessee the option to purchase the asset at a price below fair market
value when the lease expires.

Basic balance

In a balance of payments, the basic balance is the net balance of the combination of the current
account and the capital account.

Basic business strategies

Key strategies a firm intends to pursue in carrying out its business plan.

basic earnings per share (EPS)

This important ratio equals the net
income for a period (usually one year) divided by the number capital
stock shares issued by a business corporation. This ratio is so important
for publicly owned business corporations that it is included in the daily
stock trading tables published by the Wall Street Journal, the New York
Times, and other major newspapers. Despite being a rather straightforward
concept, there are several technical problems in calculating
earnings per share. Actually, two EPS ratios are needed for many businesses—
basic EPS, which uses the actual number of capital shares outstanding,
and diluted EPS, which takes into account additional shares of
stock that may be issued for stock options granted by a business and
other stock shares that a business is obligated to issue in the future.
Also, many businesses report not one but two net income figures—one
before extraordinary gains and losses were recorded in the period and a
second after deducting these nonrecurring gains and losses. Many business
corporations issue more than one class of capital stock, which
makes the calculation of their earnings per share even more complicated.

Basic Earnings Power Ratio

Percentage of earnings relative to total assets; indication of how
effectively assets are used to generate earnings. It is calculated by
dividing earnings before interest and taxes by the book value of all
assets.

Basic IRR rule

Accept the project if IRR is greater than the discount rate; reject the project is lower than the
discount rate.

Basis price

Price expressed in terms of yield to maturity or annual rate of return.

Batch picking

Picking for several summarized orders at the same time, thereby
reducing the total number of required picks. The combined picks must still be
separated into their constituent orders, typically at some central location.

Beggar-My-Neighbor Policy

A policy designed to increase an economy's prosperity at the expense of another country's prosperity.

Beneficiary

This is the person who benefits from the terms of a trust, a will, an RRSP, a RRIF, a LIF, an annuity or a life insurance policy. In relation to RRSP's, RRIF's, LIF's, Annuities and of course life insurance, if the beneficiary is a spouse, parent, offspring or grand-child, they are considered to be a preferred beneficiary. If the insured has named a preferred beneficiary, the death benefit is invariably protected from creditors. There have been some court challenges of this right of protection but so far they have been unsuccessful. See "Creditor Protection" below. A beneficiary under the age of 18 must be represented by an individual guardian over the age of 18 or a public official who represents minors generally. A policy owner may, in the designation of a beneficiary, appoint someone to act as trustee for a minor. Death benefits are not subject to income taxes. If you make your beneficiary your estate, the death benefit will be included in your assets for probate. Probate filing fees are currently $14 per thousand of estate value in British Columbia and $15 per thousand of estate value in Ontario.
Another way to avoid probate fees or creditor claims against life insurance proceeds is for the insured person to designate and register with his/her insurance company's head office an irrevocable beneficiary. By making such a designation, the insured gives up the right to make any changes to his/her policy without the consent of the irrevocable beneficiary. Because of the seriousness of the implications, an irrevocable designation should only be made for good reason and where the insured fully understands the consequences.
NoteA successful challenge of the rules relating to beneficiaries was concluded in an Ontario court in 1996. The Insurance Act says its provisions relating to beneficiaries are made "notwithstanding the Succession Law Reform Act." There are two relevent provisions of the Succession Law Reform Act. One section of the act gives a judge the power to make any order concerning an estate if the deceased person has failed to provide for a dependant. Another section says money from a life insurance policy can be considered part of the estate if an order is made to support a dependant. In the case in question, the deceased had attempted to deceive his lawful dependents by making his common-law-spouse the beneficiary of an insurance policy which by court order was supposed to name his ex-spouse and children as beneficiaries.

Beneficiary

The person designated to receive proceeds entitled by a benefit. Payment of a benefit is triggered by an event.

Beneficiary (Credit Insurance)

The person or party designated to receive proceeds entitled by a benefit. Payment of a benefit is triggered by an event. In the case of credit insurance, the beneficiary will always be the creditor.

Beta coefficient

A measurement of the extent to which the returns on a given stock move with stock market.

Bid price

This is the quoted bid, or the highest price an investor is willing to pay to buy a security. Practically
speaking, this is the available price at which an investor can sell shares of stock. Related: Ask , offer.

Bill and Hold Practices

Products that have been sold with an explicit agreement that delivery
will occur at a later, often yet-to-be-determined, date.
Capitalize To report an expenditure or accrual as an asset as opposed to expensing it and charging it against earnings currently.

Binomial option pricing model

An option pricing model in which the underlying asset can take on only two
possible, discrete values in the next time period for each value that it can take on in the preceding time period.

Black-Scholes option-pricing model

A model for pricing call options based on arbitrage arguments that uses
the stock price, the exercise price, the risk-free interest rate, the time to expiration, and the standard deviation
of the stock return.

Budget deficit

The amount by which government spending exceeds government revenues.

Budget Deficit

The excess of government spending over tax receipts.

Call price

The price, specified at issuance, at which the issuer of a bond may retire part of the bond at a
specified call date.

Call price

The price for which a bond can be repaid before maturity under a call provision.

Candlestick chart

A financial chart usually used to plot the high, low, open,
and close price of a security over time. The body of the “candle” is the region
between the open and close price of the security. Thin vertical lines extend up
to the high and down to the low, respectively. If the open price is greater than
the close price, the body is empty. If the close price is greater than the open
price, the body is filled. See also High-low-close chart.

Capital asset pricing model (CAPM)

An economic theory that describes the relationship between risk and
expected return, and serves as a model for the pricing of risky securities. The CAPM asserts that the only risk
that is priced by rational investors is systematic risk, because that risk cannot be eliminated by diversification.
The CAPM says that the expected return of a security or a portfolio is equal to the rate on a risk-free security
plus a risk premium.

Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM)

A model for estimating equilibrium rates of return and values of
assets in financial markets; uses beta as a measure of asset risk
relative to market risk

capital asset pricing model (CAPM)

Theory of the relationship between risk and return which states that the expected risk
premium on any security equals its beta times the market risk premium.

Capital market efficiency

Reflects the relative amount of wealth wasted in making transactions. An efficient
capital market allows the transfer of assets with little wealth loss. See: efficient market hypothesis.

Cash deficiency agreement

An agreement to invest cash in a project to the extent required to cover any cash
deficiency the project may experience.

Certificate of deposit (CD)

Also called a time deposit, this is a certificate issued by a bank or thrift that
indicates a specified sum of money has been deposited. A CD bears a maturity date and a specified interest
rate, and can be issued in any denomination. The duration can be up to five years.

Certificate of Deposit (CD)

A bank deposit that cannot be withdrawn for a specified period of time. See also term deposit.

Characteristic line

The market model applied to a single security. The slope of the line is a security's beta.

Cherry Picking

Selecting specific assets for sale so as to record desired gains or losses.

Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME)

A not-for-profit corporation owned by its members. Its primary
functions are to provide a location for trading futures and options, collect and disseminate market information,
maintain a clearing mechanism and enforce trading rules.

chief financial officer (CFO)

Officer who oversees the treasurer and controller and sets overall financial strategy.

Classical Macroeconomics

The school of macroeconomic thought prior to the rise of Keynesianism.

Clean price

Bond price excluding accrued interest.

coefficient of correlation

a measure of dispersion that indicates the degree of relative association existing between two variables

Coefficient of determination

A measure of the goodness of fit of the relationship between the dependent and
independent variables in a regression analysis; for instance, the percentage of variation in the return of an
asset explained by the market portfolio return.

coefficient of determination

a measure of dispersion that
indicates the “goodness of fit” of the actual observations
to the least squares regression line; indicates what proportion
of the total variation in y is explained by the regression model

coefficient of variation

a measure of risk used when the standard deviations for multiple projects are approximately
the same but the expected values are significantly different

Cold-Turkey Policy

Decreasing inflation by immediately decreasing the money growth rate to a new, low rate. Contrast with gradualism.

Collection policy

Procedures followed by a firm in attempting to collect accounts receivables.

collection policy

Procedures to collect and monitor receivables.

Company-specific risk

Related: Unsystematic risk

Companyspecific Risk

See asset-specific risk

Complementary Policies

Policies which enhance each other.

Concentration services

Movement of cash from different lockbox locations into a single concentration
account from which disbursements and investments are made.

Confidence indicator

A measure of investors' faith in the economy and the securities market. A low or
deteriorating level of confidence is considered by many technical analysts as a bearish sign.

Conflict between bondholders and stockholders

These two groups may have interests in a corporation that
conflict. Sources of conflict include dividends, distortion of investment, and underinvestment. Protective
covenants work to resolve these conflicts.

Consumer Price Index (CPI)

The CPI, as it is called, measures the prices of consumer goods and services and is a
measure of the pace of U.S. inflation. The U.S.Department of Labor publishes the CPI very month.

Consumer Price Index (CPI)

An index calculated by tracking the cost of a typical bundle of consumer goods and services over time. It is commonly used to measure inflation.

Contingent Beneficiary

This is the person designated to receive the death benefit of a life insurance policy if the primary beneficiary dies before the life insured. This is a consideration when husband and wife make each other the beneficiary of their coverage. Should they both die in the same car accident or plane crash, the death benefits would go to each others estate and creditor claims could be made against them. Particularly if minor children could be survivors, then a trustee contingent beneficiary should be named.

Conversion parity price

Related:Market conversion price

Convertible price

The contractually specified price per share at which a convertible security can be
converted into shares of common stock.

Correlation coefficient

A standardized statistical measure of the dependence of two random variables,
defined as the covariance divided by the standard deviations of two variables.

Correlation Coefficient

A measure of the tendency of two variables to change values
together

Correlation coefficient

A statistic in which the covariance is scaled to a
value between minus one (perfect negative correlation) and plus one (perfect
positive correlation).

cost-benefit analysis the analytical process of comparing the

relative costs and benefits that result from a specific course
of action (such as providing information or investing in a
project)

Cost-plus pricing

A method of pricing in which a mark-up is added to the total product/service cost.

Countercyclical

Falling during expansions and rising during recessions. A countercyclical policy stimulates during a recession and contracts during an expansion.

Creative Accounting Practices

Any and all steps used to play the financial numbers game, including
the aggressive choice and application of accounting principles, both within and beyond
the boundaries of generally accepted accounting principles, and fraudulent financial reporting.
Also included are steps taken toward earnings management and income smoothing. See Financial
Numbers Game.

credit policy

Standards set to determine the amount and nature of credit to extend to customers.

Critical Growth Periods

Times in a company's history when growth is essential and without which survival of the business might be in jeopardy.

Critical Illness Insurance

Coverage that provides a lump-sum payment should you be diagnosed with a critical illness and survive a pre-determined period of time. There are no restrictions on how you use your benefit.

Related to : financial, finance, business, accounting, payroll, inventory, investment, money, inventory control, stock trading, financial advisor, tax advisor, credit.