Definition of Regulation D

Regulation D

Fed regulation currently that required member banks to hold reserves against their net
borrowings from foreign offices of other banks over a 28-day averaging period. regulation D has been
merged with regulation M.

Accelerated cost recovery system (ACRS)

Schedule of depreciation rates allowed for tax purposes.

Accidental Death and Dismemberment

Coverage that provides a lump-sum payment to you or your survivors if an accident results in the loss of a limb, paralysis or your death.

Accidental Dismemberment: (Credit Insurance)

Provides additional financial security should an insured person be dismembered or lose the use of a limb as the result of an accident.

Accounting period

The period of time for which financial statements are produced – see also financial year.

Accounts Payable Days (A/P Days)

The number of days it would take to pay the ending balance
in accounts payable at the average rate of cost of goods sold per day. Calculated by dividing
accounts payable by cost of goods sold per day, which is cost of goods sold divided by 365.

Accounts Receivable Days (A/R Days)

The number of days it would take to collect the ending
balance in accounts receivable at the year's average rate of revenue per day. Calculated as
accounts receivable divided by revenue per day (revenue divided by 365).

Accounts receivable turnover

The ratio of net credit sales to average accounts receivable, a measure of how
quickly customers pay their bills.

accounts receivable turnover ratio

A ratio computed by dividing annual
sales revenue by the year-end balance of accounts receivable. Technically
speaking, to calculate this ratio the amount of annual credit sales should
be divided by the average accounts receivable balance, but this information
is not readily available from external financial statements. For
reporting internally to managers, this ratio should be refined and finetuned
to be as accurate as possible.

Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income

Cumulative gains or losses reported in shareholders'
equity that arise from changes in the fair value of available-for-sale securities, from the
effects of changes in foreign-currency exchange rates on consolidated foreign-currency financial
statements, certain gains and losses on financial derivatives, and from adjustments for underfunded
pension plans.

Annualized holding period return

The annual rate of return that when compounded t times, would have
given the same t-period holding return as actually occurred from period 1 to period t.

Annuity Period

The time between each payment under an annuity.

applied overhead

the amount of overhead that has been assigned to Work in Process Inventory as a result of productive activity; credits for this amount are to an overhead account

approximated net realizable value at split-off allocation

a method of allocating joint cost to joint products using a
simulated net realizable value at the split-off point; approximated
value is computed as final sales price minus
incremental separate costs

Asset Coverage

Extent to which a company's net assets cover a particular debt obligation, class of preferred stock, or equity position.

Asset-coverage test

A bond indenture restriction that permits additional borrowing on if the ratio of assets to
debt does not fall below a specified minimum.

Asset turnover

The ratio of net sales to total assets.

asset turnover

a ratio measuring asset productivity and showing the number of sales dollars generated by each dollar of assets

asset turnover ratio

A broad-gauge ratio computed by dividing annual
sales revenue by total assets. It is a rough measure of the sales-generating
power of assets. The idea is that assets are used to make sales, and the
sales should lead to profit. The ultimate test is not sales revenue on
assets, but the profit earned on assets as measured by the return on
assets (ROA) ratio.

Average (across-day) measures

An estimation of price that uses the average or representative price of a
large number of trades.

Average Amortization Period

The average useful life of a company's collective amortizable asset base.

Average Collection Period

Average number of days necessary to receive cash for the sale of
a company's products. It is calculated by dividing the value of the
accounts receivable by the average daily sales for the period.

Average collection period, or days' receivables

The ratio of accounts receivables to sales, or the total
amount of credit extended per dollar of daily sales (average AR/sales * 365).

Bank overdraft

Money owed to the bank in a cheque account where payments exceed receipts.

Bargain-purchase-price option

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

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.

Buy-and-hold strategy

A passive investment strategy with no active buying and selling of stocks from the
time the portfolio is created until the end of the investment horizon.

capital recovery

Refers to recouping, or regaining, invested capital over
the life of an investment. The pattern of period-by-period capital recovery
is very important. In brief, capital recovery is the return of capital—
not the return on capital, which refers to the rate of earnings on the
amount of capital invested during the period. The returns from an
investment have to be sufficient to provide for both recovery of capital
and an adequate rate of earnings on unrecovered capital period by
period. Sorting out how much capital is recovered each period is relatively
easy if you use a spreadsheet model for capital investment analysis.
In contrast, using a mathematical method of analysis does not
provide this period-by-period capital recovery information, which is a
major disadvantage.

Capitalized Cost An expenditure or accrual that is reported as an asset to be amortized against

future-period revenue.

Cash flow coverage ratio

The number of times that financial obligations (for interest, principal payments,
preferred stock dividends, and rental payments) are covered by earnings before interest, taxes, rental
payments, and depreciation.

Cash Turnover

The number of cash cycles completed in one year.

Clearing member

A member firm of a clearing house. Each clearing member must also be a member of the
exchange. Not all members of the exchange, however, are members of the clearing organization. All trades of
a non-clearing member must be registered with, and eventually settled through, a clearing member.

Closing purchase

A transaction in which the purchaser's intention is to reduce or eliminate a short position in
a stock, or in a given series of options.

Common stock/other equity

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

Compounding period

The length of the time period (for example, a quarter in the case of quarterly
compounding) that elapses before interest compounds.

compounding period

the time between each interest computation

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.

Consortium banks

A merchant banking subsidiary set up by several banks that may or may not be of the
same nationality. Consortium banks are common in the Euromarket and are active in loan syndication.

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.

Cookie Jar Reserves

An overly aggressive accrual of operating expenses and the creation of
liability accounts done in an effort to reduce future-year operating expenses.

Cover

The purchase of a contract to offset a previously established short position.

Coverage ratios

Ratios used to test the adequacy of cash flows generated through earnings for purposes of
meeting debt and lease obligations, including the interest coverage ratio and the fixed charge coverage ratio.

Coverdell Education IRA

A form of individual retirement account whose earnings
during the period when funds are stored in the IRA will be tax free at the
time when they are used to pay for the cost of advanced education.

Covered call

A short call option position in which the writer owns the number of shares of the underlying
stock represented by the option contracts. Covered calls generally limit the risk the writer takes because the
stock does not have to be bought at the market price, if the holder of that option decides to exercise it.

Covered call writing strategy

A strategy that involves writing a call option on securities that the investor
owns in his or her portfolio. See covered or hedge option strategies.

Covered interest arbitrage

A portfolio manager invests dollars in an instrument denominated in a foreign
currency and hedges his resulting foreign exchange risk by selling the proceeds of the investment forward for
dollars.

Covered or hedge option strategies

Strategies that involve a position in an option as well as a position in the
underlying stock, designed so that one position will help offset any unfavorable price movement in the other,
including covered call writing and protective put buying. Related: naked strategies

Covered Put

A put option position in which the option writer also is short the corresponding stock or has
deposited, in a cash account, cash or cash equivalents equal to the exercise of the option. This limits the
option writer's risk because money or stock is already set aside. In the event that the holder of the put option
decides to exercise the option, the writer's risk is more limited than it would be on an uncovered or naked put
option.

Credit period

The length of time for which the customer is granted credit.

Critical Growth Periods

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

Cross holdings

One corporation holds shares in another firm.

Crossover rate

The return at which two alternative projects have the same net present value.

Day order

An order to buy or sell stock that automatically expires if it can't be executed on the day it is entered.

Day trading

Refers to establishing and liquidating the same position or positions within one day's trading.

Days in receivables

Average collection period.

Days' sales in inventory ratio

The average number of days' worth of sales that is held in inventory.

Days' sales outstanding

Average collection period.

Days Statistics

Measures the number days' worth of sales in accounts receivable (accounts receivable
days) or days' worth of sales at cost in inventory (inventory days). Sharp increases in these measures
might indicate that the receivables are not collectible and that the inventory is not salable.

Debt-service coverage ratio

Earnings before interest and income taxes plus one-third rental charges, divided
by interest expense plus one-third rental charges plus the quantity of principal repayments divided by one
minus the tax rate.

Direct stock-purchase programs

The purchase by investors of securities directly from the issuer.

Discount period

The period during which a customer can deduct the discount from the net amount of the bill
when making payment.

Discounted payback period rule

An investment decision rule in which the cash flows are discounted at an
interest rate and the payback rule is applied on these discounted cash flows.

Doctrine of sovereign immunity

Doctrine that says a nation may not be tried in the courts of another country
without its consent.

Dollar Cost Averaging

A way of smoothing out your investment deposits by investing regularly. Instead of making one large deposit a year into your RRSP, you make smaller regular monthly deposits. If you are buying units in a mutual fund or segregated equity fund, you would end up buying more units in the month that values were low and less units in the month that values were higher. By spreading out your purchases, you don't have to worry about buying at the right time.

dollar days (of inventory)

a measurement of the value of inventory for the time that inventory is held

Electronic Federal Tax Payment Systems (EFTPS)

An electronic funds transfer system used by businesses to remit taxes to the government.

Equityholders

Those holding shares of the firm's equity.

European Monetary System (EMS)

An exchange arrangement formed in 1979 that involves the currencies
of European Union member countries.

Evaluation period

The time interval over which a money manager's performance is evaluated.

Excess reserves

Any excess of actual reserves above required reserves.

Excess Reserves

reserves of commercial banks in excess of those they are legally required to hold.

Exposure netting

Offsetting exposures in one currency with exposures in the same or another currency,
where exchange rates are expected to move in such a way that losses or gains on the first exposed position
should be offset by gains or losses on the second currency exposure.

Extended Amortization Period

An amortization period that continues beyond a long-lived asset's economic useful life.

Extended Amortization Periods

Amortizing capitalized expenditures over estimated useful lives that are unduly optimistic.

Factory overhead

All the costs incurred during the manufacturing process, minus the
costs of direct labor and materials.

Fed

See Federal Reserve System.

Federal agency securities

Securities issued by corporations and agencies created by the U.S. government,
such as the Federal Home Loan Bank Board and Ginnie Mae.

Federal credit agencies

Agencies of the Federal government set up to supply credit to various classes of
institutions and individuals, e.g. S&Ls, small business firms, students, farmers, and exporters.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)

A Federal institution that insures bank deposits.

Federal Employer Identification Number

A unique identification number issued
by the Federal government used for payroll purposes to identify the company
when it deals with the Internal Revenue Service.

Federal Financing Bank

A Federal institution that lends to a wide array of Federal credit agencies funds it
obtains by borrowing from the U.S. Treasury.

Federal funds

Non-interest bearing deposits held in reserve for depository institutions at their district Federal
Reserve Bank. Also, excess reserves lent by banks to each other.

Federal funds market

The market where banks can borrow or lend reserves, allowing banks temporarily
short of their required reserves to borrow reserves from banks that have excess reserves.

Federal funds rate

This is the interest rate that banks with excess reserves at a Federal Reserve district bank
charge other banks that need overnight loans. The Fed Funds rate, as it is called, often points to the direction
of U.S. interest rates.

Federal Funds Rate

The interest rate at which banks lend deposits at the Federal Reserve to one another overnight.

Federal Home Loan Banks

The institutions that regulate and lend to savings and loan associations. The
Federal Home Loan banks play a role analogous to that played by the Federal Reserve banks vis-à-vis
member commercial banks.

Federal Insurance Contributions Act of 1935 (FICA)

A Federal Act authorizing the government to collect Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes.

Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC)

Fed committee that makes decisions about open-market operations.

Federal Reserve Banks

The twelve district banks in the Federal Reserve System.

Federal Reserve Board

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

Federal Reserve System

The central bank of the U.S., established in 1913, and governed by the Federal
Reserve Board located in Washington, D.C. The system includes 12 Federal Reserve banks and is authorized
to regulate monetary policy in the U.S. as well as to supervise Federal Reserve member banks, bank holding
companies, international operations of U.S.banks, and U.S.operations of foreign banks.

Federal Reserve System

The central banking authority responsible for monetary policy in the United States.

Federal Reserve (the Fed)

The central bank in the United States, responsible for setting interest rates.

Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA)

A Federal Act requiring employers to pay a tax on the wages paid to their employees, which is then used to create a
pool of funds to be used for unemployment benefits.

Federally related institutions

Arms of the Federal government that are exempt from SEC registration and
whose securities are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government (with the exception of the
Tennessee Valley Authority).

Fedwire

A wire transfer system for high-value payments operated by the Federal Reserve System.

Firm's net value of debt

Total firm value minus total firm debt.

First notice day

The first day, varying by contracts and exchanges, on which notices of intent to deliver
actual financial instruments or physical commodities against futures are authorized.

First To Die Coverage

This means that there are two or more life insured on the same policy but the death benefit is paid out on the first death only. If two or more persons at the same address are purchasing life insurance at the same time, it is wise to compare the cost of this kind of coverage with individual policies having a multiple policy discount.

Fixed asset turnover ratio

The ratio of sales to fixed assets.

Fixed Assets Turnover Ratio

A measure of the utilization of a company's fixed assets to
generate sales. It is calculated by dividing the sales for the period
by the book value of the net fixed assets.

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