Business English/Idioms

Business Acronyms

ASAP  : As Soon As Possible

COB  : Close Of Business

COP  : Close Of Play

EOD.  : End Of Day

PO  : Purchase Order

GR  : Goods Receipt

IR  : Invoice Receipt

R/E  : Rate of Exchange (also called FX exchange)

TOR  : Terms of Reference

P/C  : Price, Current

O/S  : Out of Stock, differs from...

OS  : ...On Sample

EBIT  : Earnings Before Interests and Taxes; Shows the result of the company before Interest expenditures and Income Taxes. It differs from...

EBITDA : Earnings Before Interests, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization; ...that gives a more precise idea of final result (earnings or loss). It takes into account these two aspects of business in addition.

BOY  : Beginning Of the Year; Generally January, but in any case is considered the beginning of the financial year (for statements purpose).

EOY  : End Of the Year; Generally December, but in any case is considered the end of the financial year (for statements purpose).

SOP  : Standard Operating Procedures

YTD  : Year To Date; term generally used to indicate all the expenses a firm incurred in during a year (P&L)

WIP  : Work In Progress; Especially used for assets under construction.

Company Departments - Functional Areas

MKT  : Marketing R&D  : Research and Development H&S  : Health and Security M&R  : Maintenance and Repair HR  : Human Resources IT  : Information Technology AR  : Account Receivable

SG&A  : Selling, General & Administrative (regroups many depts. generally excluding manufacturing only, or manuf. + R&D)

Common English idioms

Black Tie - Not a true idiom; however, it can be misleading. It does not mean 'Wear a black tie', but rather a 'DJ' or dinner jacket and bow tie (alternatively a tuxedo)

e.g. or eg. - exempli gratia, for example

et al. - et alii, and others

i.e. or ie. - id est, that is; in other words

NB - Nota Bene, note well

PS - Post Script, Written after the end of an informal letter. Used in order to include a piece of information forgotten to be included at the beginning of the letter

RSVP - Repondez s'il vous plait, is an abbreviation for ‘répondez s’il vous plaît’, which means ‘please reply’. It is written on the bottom of a card inviting you to a party or special occasion.

CV - Curriculum Vitae, Latin expression meaning "course of life" in other words, a resumee.

N/A - Not Applicable

RGDS - Regards