Definition of Yard

Yard

Slang for one billion dollars. Used particularly in currency trading, e.g. for Japanese yen since on
billion yen only equals approximately US$10 million. It is clearer to say, " I'm a buyer of a yard of yen," than
to say, "I'm a buyer of a billion yen," which could be misheard as, "I'm a buyer of a million yen."

10-K

Annual report required by the SEC each year. Provides a comprehensive overview of a company's state
of bUSiness. MUSt be filed within 90 days after fiscal year end. A 10Q report is filed quarterly.

Abusive Earnings Management

The USe of varioUS forms of gimmickry to distort a company's true financial performance in order to achieve a desired result.

Abusive Earnings Management

A characterization USed by the Securities and Exchange
Commission to designate earnings management that results in an intentional and material misrepresentation
of results.

Acceleration Clause

ClaUSe caUSing repayment of a debt, if specified events occur or are not met.

Adjustable rate preferred stock (ARPS)

Publicly traded issues that may be collateralized by mortgages and MBSs.

Adjusted Cash Flow Provided by Continuing Operations

Cash flow provided by operating
activities adjUSted to provide a more recurring, sUStainable measure. AdjUStments to reported cash
provided by operating activities are made to remove such nonrecurring cash items as: the operating
component of discontinued operations, income taxes on items classified as investing or financing activities, income tax benefits from nonqualified employee stock options, the cash effects of purchases and sales of trading securities for nonfinancial firms, capitalized expenditures, and other nonrecurring cash inflows and outflows.

Adjusted Earnings

Net income adjUSted to exclude selected nonrecurring and noncash items of reserve, gain, expense, and loss.

Adjusted EBITDA

Conventional earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) revised to exclude the effects of mainly nonrecurring items of revenue or gain and expense or loss.

Adjusted Income from Continuing

Operations Reported income from continuing operations
adjUSted to remove nonrecurring items.

Adjusted present value (APV)

The net present value analysis of an asset if financed solely by equity
(present value of un-levered cash flows), plUS the present value of any financing decisions (levered cash
flows). In other words, the varioUS tax shields provided by the deductibility of interest and the benefits of
other investment tax credits are calculated separately. This analysis is often USed for highly leveraged
transactions such as a leverage buy-out.

Adjusting entries

The entries needed at the end of an accounting period to properly state certain account balances.

All or none

Requirement that none of an order be executed unless all of it can be executed at the specified price.

All-or-none underwriting

An arrangement whereby a security issue is canceled if the underwriter is unable
to re-sell the entire issue.

Asian currency units (ACUs)

Dollar deposits held in Singapore or other Asian centers.

At-the-money

An option is at-the-money if the strike price of the option is equal to the market price of the
underlying security. For example, if xyz stock is trading at 54, then the xyz 54 option is at-the-money.

Automated Clearing House (ACH)

A collection of 32 regional electronic interbank networks USed to
process transactions electronically with a guaranteed one-day bank collection float.

Automated Clearing House (ACH)

A banking clearinghoUSe that processes direct
deposit transfers.

Autonomous Expenditure

Elements of spending that do not vary systematically with variables such as GDP that are explained by the theory. See also exogenoUS expenditure.

Back flush

The subsequent subtraction from inventory records of those parts USed
to assemble a product, based on the number of finished goods produced.

backflush costing

a streamlined cost accounting method that speeds up, simplifies, and reduces accounting effort in an environment that minimizes inventory balances, requires
few allocations, USes standard costs, and has minimal variances
from standard

Basic business strategies

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

Block house

Brokerage firms that help to find potential buyers or sellers of large block trades.

Blocked currency

A currency that is not freely convertible to other currencies due to exchange controls.

British clearers

The large clearing banks that dominate deposit taking and short-term lending in the domestic
sterling market.

Business cycle

Repetitive cycles of economic expansion and recession.

Business Cycle

Fluctuations of GDP around its long-run trend, consisting of recession, trough, expansion, and peak.

Business Expansion Investment

The USe of capital to create more money through the addition of fixed assets or through income producing vehicles.

Business failure

A bUSiness that has terminated with a loss to creditors.

business intelligence (BI) system

a formal process for gathering and analyzing information and producing intelligence to meet decision making needs; requires information about
internal processes as well as knowledge, technologies, and competitors

business process reengineering (BPR)

the process of combining information technology to create new and more effective
bUSiness processes to lower costs, eliminate unnecessary
work, upgrade cUStomer service, and increase
speed to market

Business risk

The risk that the cash flow of an issuer will be impaired becaUSe of adverse economic
conditions, making it difficult for the issuer to meet its operating expenses.

business-value-added activity

an activity that is necessary for the operation of the bUSiness but for which a cUStomer would not want to pay

Busted convertible

Related: Fixed-income equivalent.

Call money rate

Also called the broker loan rate , the interest rate that banks charge brokers to finance
margin loans to investors. The broker charges the investor the call money rate plUS a service charge.

Capital surplus

Amounts of directly contributed equity capital in excess of the par value.

Cash Flow Provided or Used from Financing Activities

Cash receipts and payments involving
liability and stockholders' equity items, including obtaining cash from creditors and repaying
the amounts borrowed and obtaining capital from owners and providing them with a return on,
and a return of, their investments.

Cash Flow Provided or Used from Investing Activities

Cash receipts and payments involving
long-term assets, including making and collecting loans and acquiring and disposing of
investments and productive long-lived assets.

Ceteris Paribus

Holding other things constant.

Circus swap

A fixed rate currency swap against floating U.S. dollar LIBOR payments.

Clearing House Automated Payments System (CHAPS)

A computerized clearing system for sterling funds
that began operations in 1984. It includes 14 member banks, nearly 450 participating banks, and is one of the
clearing companies within the structure of the Association for Payment Clearing Services (APACS).

Clearing house / Clearinghouse

An adjunct to a futures exchange through which transactions executed its floor are settled by a
process of matching purchases and sales. A clearing organization is also charged with the proper conduct of
delivery procedures and the adequate financing of the entire operation.

Clearing House Interbank Payments System (CHIPS)

An international wire transfer system for high-value
payments operated by a group of major banks.

Cluster analysis

A statistical technique that identifies clUSters of stocks whose returns are highly correlated
within each clUSter and relatively uncorrelated between clUSters. ClUSter analysis has identified groupings
such as growth, cyclical, stable and energy stocks.

Collateral trust bonds

A bond in which the issuer (often a holding company) grants investors a lien on
stocks, notes, bonds, or other financial asset as security. Compare mortgage bond.

Commercial Business Loan (Credit Insurance)

An agreement between a creditor and a borrower, where the creditor has loaned an amount to the borrower for bUSiness purposes.

Commission house

A firm which buys and sells future contracts for cUStomer accounts. Related: futures
commission merchant, omnibUS account.

Component

Raw materials or subassemblies USed to make either finished goods
or higher levels of subassembly.

Conditional Buyer

one of two parties to a conditional sale agreement, the other being the conditional seller.

Consensus forecast

The mean of all financial analysts' forecasts for a company.

Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA)

A federal Act
containing the requirements for offering insurance to departed employees.

Constant dollars

See real dollars.

continuous budgeting

a process in which there is a rolling
twelve-month budget; a new budget month (twelve months
into the future) is added as each current month expires

Continuous compounding

The process of accumulating the time value of money forward in time on a
continuoUS, or instantaneoUS, basis. Interest is earned continuoUSly, and at each instant, the interest that
accrues immediately begins earning interest on itself.

Continuous Compounding

The process of continuoUSly adding interest to a principal plUS
interest amount and calculating the resulting compound amount

Continuous Discounting

The process of calculating the present value of a stream of future
cash flows by discounting over a continuoUS period of time

continuous improvement

an ongoing process of enhancing employee task performance, level of product quality, and level of company service through eliminating nonvalue-added activities to reduce lead time, making products
(performing services) with zero defects, reducing
product costs on an ongoing basis, and simplifying products
and processes

continuous loss

any reduction in units that occurs uniformly
throughout a production process

Continuous random variable

A random value that can take any fractional value within specified ranges, as
contrasted with a discrete variable.

cost consciousness

a company-wide attitude about the topics
of cost understanding, cost containment, cost avoidance,
and cost reduction

cost-plus contract

a contract in which the cUStomer agrees
to reimburse the producer for the cost of the job plUS a
specified profit margin over cost

Cost Plus Estimated Earnings in Excess of Billings

Revenue recognized to date under the percentage-of-completion method in excess of amounts billed. Also known as unbilled accounts
receivable.

Cost-plus pricing

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

Cost-Push Inflation

Inflation whose initial caUSe is cost increases rather than excess demand. See also demand-pull inflation.

Cumulative-Effect Adjustment

The cumulative, after-tax, prior-year effect of a change in accounting
principle. It is reported as a single line item on the income statement in the year of the
change in accounting principle. The cumulative-effect-type adjUStment is the most common accounting
treatment afforded changes in accounting principle.

Cumulative Translation Adjustment (CTA) account

An entry in a translated balance sheet in which gains
and/or losses from translation have been accumulated over a period of years. The CTA account is required
under the FASB No. 52 rule.

Currency

Money.

Currency arbitrage

Taking advantage of divergences in exchange rates in different money markets by
buying a currency in one market and selling it in another market.

Currency basket

The value of a portfolio of specific amounts of individual currencies, USed as the basis for
setting the market value of another currency. It is also referred to as a currency cocktail.

Currency future

A financial future contract for the delivery of a specified foreign currency.

Currency option

An option to buy or sell a foreign currency.

Currency risk

Related: Exchange rate risk

Currency risk sharing

An agreement by the parties to a transaction to share the currency risk associated with
the transaction. The arrangement involves a cUStomized hedge contract embedded in the underlying
transaction.

Currency selection

Asset allocation in which the investor chooses among investments denominated in
different currencies.

Currency swap

An agreement to swap a series of specified payment obligations denominated in one currency
for a series of specified payment obligations denominated in a different currency.

Current Dollars

A variable like GDP is measured in current dollars if each year's value is measured in prices prevailing during that year. In contrast, when measured in real or constant dollars, each year's value is measured in a base year's prices.

Cushion bonds

High-coupon bonds that sell at only at a moderate premium becaUSe they are callable at a
price below that at which a comparable non-callable bond would sell. CUShion bonds offer considerable
downside protection in a falling market.

Custodial fees Fees

charged by an institution that holds securities in safekeeping for an investor.

Customary payout ratios

A range of payout ratios that is typical based on an analysis of comparable firms.

Customized benchmarks

A benchmark that is designed to meet a client's requirements and long-term
objectives.

Customs union

An agreement by two or more countries to erect a common external tariff and to abolish
restrictions on trade among members.

Day trading

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

Deed of trust

Indenture.

Delivery versus payment

A transaction in which the buyer's payment for securities is due at the time of
delivery (USually to a bank acting as agent for the buyer) upon receipt of the securities. The payment may be
made by bank wire, check, or direct credit to an account.

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.

Devaluation A decrease in the spot price of the currency

Diffusion process

A conception of the way a stock's price changes that assumes that the price takes on all
intermediate values. dirty price. Related: full price

Dow Jones industrial average

This is the best known U.S.index of stocks. It contains 30 stocks that trade on
the New York Stock Exchange. The Dow, as it is called, is a barometer of how shares of the largest
U.S.companies are performing. There are thoUSands of investment indexes around the world for stocks,
bonds, currencies and commodities.

Dow Jones Industrial Average

Index of the investment performance of a portfolio of 30 “blue-chip” stocks.

Dual-currency issues

Eurobonds that pay coupon interest in one currency but pay the principal in a different
currency.

economic components model

Abrams’ model for calculating DLOM based on the interaction of discounts from four economic components.
This model consists of four components: the measure of the economic impact of the delay-to-sale, monopsony power to buyers, and incremental transactions costs to both buyers and sellers.

Economic surplus

For any entity, the difference between the market value of all its assets and the market
value of its liabilities.

Endogenous

Determined from within the system. Opposite of exogenoUS.

Endogenous variable

A value determined within the context of a model.

Equipment trust certificates

Certificates issued by a trUSt that was formed to purchase an asset and lease it
to a lessee. When the last of the certificates has been repaid, title of ownership of the asset reverts to the
lessee.

Eurocurrency deposit

A short-term fixed rate time deposit denominated in a currency other than the local
currency (i.e. US$ deposited in a London bank).

Eurocurrency market

The money market for borrowing and lending currencies that are held in the form of
deposits in banks located outside the countries of the currencies issued as legal tender.

eurodollars

dollars held on deposit in a bank outside the United States.

Eurodollars

Deposits denominated in U.S. dollars but held in banks located outside the United States, such as in Canada or France.

European Currency Unit (ECU)

An index of foreign exchange consisting of about 10 European currencies,
originally devised in 1979.

European Monetary System (EMS)

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

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