A

AAA. American Automobile Association; top rating given by U.S. bond rating services.

     ABOUT-FACE.  To reverse direction or to reverse a decision (military).

“In About-Face, Dell Will Sell PCs to Dealers”  (Wall Street Journal, August 20, 2002, p. B1)

ABOVE AND BEYOND. More than required.

ABOVE BOARD. Visible; honest.

 

“Here's why. It was baseless that I, as chairman of the New York Stock Exchange compensation committee from 1999 to June, 2003, had somehow failed to inform the NYSE board of a benefit they themselves had approved. Having been there, I know the records will prove it was all above-board, well-vetted and fair. It is absurd to suggest that the brightest minds and keenest thinkers on Wall Street were befuddled by the complexity of Richard Grasso's compensation package -- especially one composed just like their own. Might as well say NASA couldn't launch a Goodyear blimp.” (Wall Street Journal, June 10, 2004, p. A12)

 

ABOVE THE FOLD.  The part of a Web page that is visible without scrolling.  Banner ads are usually placed on the top of a Web page so they are visible and not, “below the fold,” in the part of a Web page that requires the viewer to scroll.

 

 

ACCELERATION PRINCIPLE. Hypothesis that investment varies with the rate of change in aggregate demand. First introduced by John M. Clark in 1917, the principle was developed to explain the large variations in investment over the course of a business cycle. Keynes incorporated the acceleration principle into his General Theory.

ACCOUNTABLE. Responsible for.

ACCOUNTING INFORMATION SYSTEMS (AIS). Computerized information retrieval systems.

“These conclusions, taken together, demonstrate the need for accounting researchers to become more focused on ethical considerations in the design of accounting information systems, performance measurement criteria, and financial reporting models.” (Business Ethics Quarterly, July, 2004, p. 399)



ACE. Expert; to achieve a perfect score.

ACE IN THE HOLE/UP YOUR SLEEVE. Hidden advantage.

 “There was no crisis. Mr. Pollakowski found that Cambridge deregulation was followed by a boom in housing investment. Mr. [William Tucker] says that 50-years of pent-up housing demand is an ‘ace in the hole’ in reviving the city.” (Wall Street Journal, May 19, 2003, p. A17)

ACID TEST. Final, decisive test; proof.

 

“ Revulsion over this corporate excess isn't simply some populist screed. The ‘acid test’ of corporate reform is CEO compensation and accountability, says Warren Buffett, America's foremost investor. A board challenging CEO pay, warns the sage of Omaha, ‘is like belching at a dinner party.’ Bill McDonough, former head of the New York federal reserve and now running the SEC's new accounting and oversight board, says the current level of executive pay cannot be "justified economically . . . or morally."  (Wall Street Journal, Sept. 18, 2003, p. A17)

ACID TEST RATIO/QUICK RATIO. Financial test of solvency comparing a firm’s liquid assets and liabilities.

 

ACROSS THE BOARD. Equal for everyone.

 

“While we agree that Mr. Bush has a lousy first-term spending record, he is now saying that in a second term he'd restrain non-defense increases. Mr. Kerry's stated agenda is increased spending nearly across the board and tax hikes. The voters can decide which of these better constitutes ‘fiscal discipline.’" (Wall Street Journal, Aug. 9, 2004, p. A12)

 

ACT IN CONCERT (TO). Work together. < xml="true" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" prefix="v" namespace=""> 

 

“Speaking out against the Kyoto initiatives in a 1997 speech in China, he said that costly regulations and restrictions are a bad idea, especially when ‘their need has yet to be proven, their total impact undefined, and when nations are not prepared to act in concert.’” (Wall Street Journal, Aug. 29, 2001, p. B1)

 

 ACTION ITEMS. To-do list.

 

“To boost accountability, the blackout report said North America's reliability standards must be made mandatory. It also said some standards should be reconsidered. For example, FirstEnergy's transmission operators were certified and its summer planning was in compliance with existing standards. ‘There were no action items that ECAR had ordered us to do where we sat back and said, nah, we're not going to do it,' said Mr. Jones.” (Wall Street Journal, April. 13, 2004, p. A1)

 

 

ADHOCRACY.  An organization with minimal structure, few rules, and delegation of authority to professionals within the organization.

AD INFINITUM. Until infinity (Latin).

 

ADJUSTED GROSS INCOME (AGI). A measure of personal income used by the INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE. AGI includes all sources of personal income minus allowances for contributions to INDIVIDUAL RETIREMENT ACCOUNTS, KEOGH PLANS, alimony payments, and other adjustments.

 

AD LIB (TO). Improvise.

“Oh well. Mr. [Jimmy Carter] will use the million-dollar award to carry on the work of his Carter Center in Atlanta, for such purposes as monitoring elections where people are trying to win democracy and building houses for the poor through Habitat for Humanity. Mr. [Gunnar Berge]'s ad lib notwithstanding, Mr. [George W. Bush] thoroughly approved of the committee's choice and called Mr. Carter to tell him so.” (Wall Street Journal, Oct. 15, 2002, p. A21)

 

ADMINISTRATIUM. Humorous reference to an organization with many administrators.

ADMINISTRIVIA. All the trivial activities and reports required by administrators.

 

“As a project manager, I thoroughly enjoy the responsibility of coaching, supporting and managing people and projects but then there is the administrivia.” (Mary Grace Allenchey, AT&T, 1996)

 

ADOPTION. The merger or acquisition of a mutual fund by another fund.

 

“In the mutual-fund world, ‘adoption’ is the shortcut by which fund companies can plug gaps in their portfolio lineups by taking over funds run by other investment companies.” (Wall Street Journal, December 3, 2003, p. R1)

ADOPTION PROCESS. The steps consumers go through in accepting a new product, including awareness, interest, evaluation, trial, and rejection or adoption.

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION. Policies to address and redress employment discrimination.

“In the campaign for the 1998 vote that brought the BJP into power, the party's leadership called for a ban on cow slaughter, the conversion of a number of Islamic mosques into Hindu temples, and the scraping of affirmative action policies they charged favored India's 150 million Muslim population, the world's second-largest.” (Wall Street Journal, May. 14, 2004, p. A1)

AFFORDABILITY INDEX. National Association of Realtors’ index measuring housing costs in different regions of the United States.

 

AFTER MARKET. Market for stock after its initial offering; market for maintenance materials and parts

AGE THE ACCOUNTS (TO). Arrange accounts receivable in order of the days they are past due.

AGING SCHEDULE/THE AGING. A list of accounts receivable in order of how many days they are past due. The aging schedule is used by lenders when considering loans to businesses.

AIR (TO). Broadcast on television or radio.

AIR IT OUT (TO). Discuss openly (football).

AIR ONE’S DIRTY LINEN/LAUNDRY. Talk about one’s problems.

 

AIR TIME. Broadcast time on television or radio.

 

“To compete against 24-hour cable news channels accustomed to showing news all the time, CBS aimed to avoid going to TALKING HEADS and, instead, give more air time to its embedded reporters, equip them with better technology and present a vast array of graphics. In the past, embedded reporters often had to show a story to the military before broadcasting; this time, they can report live.” (Wall Street Journal, March. 24, 2003, p. B1)

ALL EARS. Very eager; listening intently.

ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE. Things got out of control.

ALL OR NONE (AON). Stock market order prohibiting partial sales or purchases.

ALL-OUT. Full effort, holding nothing back.

ALL SYSTEMS GO.  Ready to act or proceed.

ALMA MATER. Nourishing mother (Latin); school from which a person graduated.

ALPHABET STOCK. Categories of stock within a larger corporation.

ALPHA GEEK. A firm’s technology expert.

ALSO-RAN. Loser; a product or person who is not among the most successful.

 

AMAZONNED.  To lose a significant portion of your business to a dot-com company.  Many BRICKS AND MORTAR are losing business to Internet competitors.

 

AMBULANCE CHASER. Lawyer who specializes in personal injury claims; unethical lawyer.

 

“His ‘divisive’ populism and liberal votes are at odds with mainstream values, party chairman Ed Gillespie added yesterday. White House strategist Karl Rove, with instincts honed in Southern brawls pitting trial lawyers against business, believes in the power of ‘ambulance chaser’ as a political epithet.” (Wall Street Journal, July. 7, 2004, p. A4)

 

AMERICAN COWBOY.  Executive in American workplace who is dynamic but also somewhat out of control.

AMERICAN DEPOSITORY RECEIPT (ADR). Certificate backed by shares of a foreign company.

 

“Yesterday's deal was announced after the close of stock trading in New York, where both AngloGold and Ashanti's American depository receipts trade on the New York Stock Exchange. AngloGold rose 40 cents, or 1.24%, to $32.55 a share. Ashanti rose 12 cents, or 1.5%, to $8.12 a share.” (Wall Street Journal, Aug. 5, 2003, p. C14)

AMERICAN DREAM. Widely held perception that each generation of Americans will be better off than the previous generation.

 

“‘The jump in prices was very unexpected,’ she said. ‘I don't know if I can afford one now.’ Inadvertently, the economic development project that is MassMoCA may have ended her American dream.” (Wall Street Journal, July. 7, 2004, p. D10).

AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT (ADA). 1992 federal legislation requiring businesses to provide greater access for customers and also accommodation for employees with special needs.

AMPED. Excited; high-energy.

“Never mind that luge is nothing more than an amped-up version of an age-old American pastime – ‘it's just sleigh riding, only our sleighs go 100 miles per hour,’ says retired three-time Olympic luger Duncan Kennedy. For years, U.S. luge fell largely into the ‘who cares’ category.” (Wall Street Journal, Dec. 19. 1997, p. 1)

ANCHOR (TO)/ANCHOR TENANT. The largest, best known tenant in a shopping mall; to hold in place; symbols used in HTML to indicate the beginning and end of hypertext links (< >).

“The 21-year-old mall, which will lose its Foley's anchor store to nearby North East Mall in Hurst, is spending $100 million to become an indoor/outdoor mall with a new movie theater, lakes and an ice rink.” (Wall Street Journal,  Oct. 18, 2000, p. T1)

ANGELS. Investors in start-up companies who contribute a small amount of capital and provide advice to the new entrepreneur.

“Control also becomes an issue when many friends-and-family investors sit on a board, said Joanna Rees Gallanter, managing partner of Venture Strategy Partners, a San Francisco venture firm. ‘You could have three or four angel investors on the board,’ she said. Try to get them off, and there's trouble." (Wall Street Journal, July 16, 2003, p. B7C).

 

ANOINTED. Chosen by top company executives (biblical).

 

“Mr. [Eliot Spitzer] is going after British-based Glaxo for ‘concealing’ information about its popular antidepressant medicine, Paxil. According to America's new self-anointed drug czar, Glaxo's crime is that it publicized one study showing Paxil had positive results in adolescents, but didn't advertise four studies that showed inconclusive results or suggested Paxil may increase the risk of suicidal thoughts.” (Wall Street Journal, June 21, 2004, p. A16)

ANTE BELLUM. Before the war (Latin).

ANTI-NUKE. Someone opposed to nuclear weapons or energy.

 

ANTE UP (TO). Pay up.

 

“The U.S. will help lead a donors conference in Madrid later this month, but other wealthy countries have hinted that they are unlikely to ante up anything close to the $20.3 billion that President Bush has asked Congress to provide as the U.S. share for next year.” (Wall Street Journal, Oct. 2, 2003, p. A4)

A-OK. Operating smoothly (the early NASA program).

 

A 180. An about-face, a complete reversal.

 

“The Senate retreat on the debt-ceiling strategy was announced by Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens. It represented a 180-degree turn by the Alaska Republican, who had earlier encouraged the House to take the approach it did.” (Wall Street Journal, June 25, 2004, p. A2)

APPLE POLISH (TO). Flatter; BROWN-NOSE.

 

APPLICATION SERVICE PROVIDER.  A provider, from a remote server, of business computer applications.

 

ARCHIE BUNKER. A bigoted, lower-class American; REDNECK. Archie (played by Carroll O’Connor) was a character in the All in the Family television series.

 

“ Not surprisingly, Mr. [Carroll O'Connor]'s death set off a spate of media discussions about ‘All in the Family’ and its significance, few as memorable as the one starring actor/director Rob Reiner. On ‘Hardball’ it fell to Mr. Reiner, who portrayed [Archie]'s son-in-law Michael, aka Meathead, to answer questions about the fears people like Archie Bunker might have -- the sort of people living in changing, crime-plagued neighborhoods, and who, like Archie, didn't like it.” (Wall Street Journal, July. 2, 2001, p. A14)

ARM AND A LEG. Expensive.

“Both AT&T and Verizon charge an arm and a leg for monthly data plans. Both favor plans that force you to estimate how many megabytes of e-mail and Web pages you'll use in a month, and then charge you extra for going over.” (Wall Street Journal, Dec. 11, 2003, p. B1)

ARMCHAIR GENERAL/QUARTERBACK. Critic who does not have experience in the area he or she is critizing; know-it-all.

ARMPIT. A very undesirable place.

ARMS-LENGTH TRANSACTION. Transaction that complies with the legal requirements to avoid any conflict of interests. See CHINESE WALL.

AS IS. Sold with no warranty. Most used products are sold as is.

ASLEEP AT THE SWITCH. Not awake; not focused on one’s duties (early U.S. railroad era).

“Perhaps the real reason behind the latest announcement is that Chinese authorities don't want to look like they're asleep at the switch while technology races past them, even if they realize the futility of their task." (Wall Street Journal, July 6, 2004, p. A22)

 

ASSET DEPLOYMENT.  The allocation of a firm’s assets.  The term comes from the military, where an officer would deploy his/her troops.

ASSET PLAY. Takeover of a company whose assets are undervalued on the balance sheet.

ASSET STRIPPER. A CORPORATE RAIDER who buys a company intending to sell all or most of the company’s prized assets to pay off the debt incurred in purchasing the company. An asset stripper calculates that the remaining parts of the company will be valuable.

ASS-KISSER. One who flatters superiors. See also BROWN-NOSE.

 

ASSMOSIS.  Sarcastic description of the process by which some people advance in a corporation.

ATTENTION, INTEREST, DESIRE, AND ACTION (AIDA). Marketer’s concept of consumer’s mental buying process, including the stages of Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action.


AT THE BELL. At the opening or closing of the market.  The New York Stock Exchange uses a bell to start and end trading.  Politicians and celebrities are often photographed ringing the NYSE  bell.

AT THE END OF THE DAY.  After everything has been discussed or considered.

AT THE MARKET. At the current market price.

 

AT THE MONEY. An option with a strike price (price at which the asset can be purchased or sold) equal to the current price of the asset.

AT THE OPEN. Stock market order to buy or sell at the first traded price.

ATTRIT. Abbreviation for “attrition.” To attrit is to cut back the number of employees slowly by not replacing people who leave the company.

AUDIT TRAIL. Accounting method to document the source of a data entry.

 

“In our report, delivered this week, we recommend specific actions to resolve the privacy issues raised by government programs in which personally identifiable information about U.S. persons is used by our government. These include: 1) technical standards for data mining using anonymized data where possible; 2) appointing privacy officers to insure supervision through audit trails and congressional oversight; 3) exempting data searches based on particularized suspicion, non U.S. persons, foreign intelligence, and emergencies; and 4) requiring, under certain circumstances, permission from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.” (Wall Street Journal, June. 3, 2004, p. A14)

AUNT MILLIE. Derogatory term for an unsophisticated investor. See also BLUE-HAIRS.

 

 

AX OR AXE (TO). Terminate from a job; eliminate. See also GIVE THE BOOT.

 

AX TO GRIND (HE/SHE HAS AN). Something a person is angry or upset about; a personal agenda.

 

“State law now permits corporate by-laws to set minimum experience requirements for directors, and to bar business competitors or corporate fraudsters from serving on company boards. In the name of ‘shareholder democracy,’ the SEC now proposes to let any group of dissidents with an ax to grind blow right past these sensitive limitations and place their advocates on the corporate ballot.” (Wall Street Journal, Dec. 30, 2003, p. A10)