Glossary
Words worth knowing
Finance has a lot of jargon. Here's every term from the book in plain English.
- Acquisition
When one company buys another.
See it in action: Corporate Development
- Budget
The plan a company sets at the start of the year for how much money will come in and go out.
See it in action: FP&A
- CFO (Chief Financial Officer)
The top finance leader at a company. Some people reach it by climbing the FP&A ladder.
See it in action: FP&A
- Corporate development ("corp dev")
The team that helps a company grow by buying other companies, selling off pieces of the business, or setting up partnerships.
See it in action: Corporate Development
- Corporate finance
Finance work done inside a company that sells something else, like shoes, software, or healthcare, rather than at a bank or fund.
- Forecast
An updated guess at how the year will turn out, made once the year is underway.
See it in action: FP&A
- FP&A (Financial Planning & Analysis)
The team that builds a company's budget, tracks what actually happens, and updates predictions.
See it in action: FP&A
- Integration
The very hard job of combining two companies after one buys the other.
See it in action: Corporate Development
- Variance
The gap between what a company expected and what actually happened.
See it in action: Financial Analyst