Accounting terms
If you need a foundational understanding of a technical concept, Becker’s glossary of accounting terms offers over 2,500 clear, concise definitions across areas of accounting, audit, and tax. Whether you're tackling accounting homework, preparing for the CPA Exam, or just brushing up on important terms, this resource will help you understand and retain key concepts and speak accounting with confidence.
Finance and accounting terms
This category covers essential finance and accounting terms, including information related to financial statements, GAAP principles, budgeting, and key metrics used in financial analysis and reporting.
Accounting principles board (APB) opinions
Accounting research bulletins (ARB)
Accounts receivable confirmation
Accumulated other comprehensive income
Activity-based costing (ABC)
Agency coupled with an interest
AICPA Code of Professional Conduct
Allowance method (Balance sheet method)
Allowance for uncollectible accounts
Alternative fuel refueling property credit
Annual comprehensive financial report
Annualized loss expectancy (ALE)
Annualized rate of occurrence (ARO)
Applicable financial reporting framework
Appropriated retained earnings
Asset retirement obligation (ARO)
Assignment for the benefit of creditors
Association with financial statements
Attachment (of a security interest)
Authoritative (top-down) budgeting
Capital asset pricing model (CAPM)
Capital grants and contributions
Capital and related financing activities
Capitalization of interest period
Cash flow to fixed charges ratio
Cash from financing activities
Cash from investing activities
Cash from operating activities
Center for Internet Security (CIS) benchmarks
Center for Internet Security (CIS) controls
Change in accounting principle
Change in the quantity demanded
Change in the quantity supplied
Chapter 13 Adjustment of debts of individuals with regular income
Chapter 15 Ancillary cross-border cases
Chief operations officer (COO)
Classification understandability
Committee of Sponsoring Organizations (COSO)
Common size financial statements
Common vulnerability scoring system
Compensatory stock option plan
Complementary subservience organization controls
Complementary user entity controls
Components of internal control
Computer software developed for internal use
Computer software development costs
Condensed financial statements
Confidence level (Also called reliability)
Consolidated financial statements
Constructive receipt of income
Contributions with donor restrictions
Contributions without donor restrictions
Control objectives for information-related technologies (COBIT)
Conventional retail inventory method
Conversion costs (and conversion cost pricing)
COSO 2017 Enterprise risk management
COSO internal control framework
Cost method (Of treasury stock accounting)
Cost-volume-profit analysis (CVP)
Coverdell Education Savings Account
Cumulative average time learning model
Database management system (DMBS)
Days sales in accounts receivable
Days sales outstanding accounts receivable
Declining balance depreciation
Denial of service (DOS attacks)
Design factors and focus areas
Detection risk of noncompliance
Deviations operations controls
Direct labor efficiency variance
Direct material price variance
Direct material usage variance
Discretionary access control (DAC)
Distributed denial-of-service (DDOS)
Dividend yield plus growth rate method
Domain name system (DNS) filtering
Economic resources measurement focus
Electronic data interchange (EDI)
Employee stock purchase plans (ESPP)
Endpoint detection response (EDR) systems
Energy efficient home improvement credit
Engagement completion document
Enterprise log management process
Enterprise resource planning (ERP)
Enterprise risk management (ERM)
Enterprise risk management integrated framework
Entity-relationship diagram (ERD)
Environment runtime
Equity securities holders committee
Estoppel deny existence agency
Excess accelerated depreciation
Express warranties (in sale of goods)
Factoring of accounts receivable
Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA)
FASB Accounting Standards Codification
Federal Insurance Contribution Act (FICA)
FIFO method of process costing
Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB)
Financial statement assertions
Financial interrelated organization
Fixed overhead spending variance
Foreign derived intangible income (FDII)
Foreign earned income exclusion
Framework implementation tiers
Fraudulent financial reporting
Function program classification
General agent
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
General use report
Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP)
Goodwill (and goodwill impairment)
Government Accountability Office (GAO)
Government-mandated non-exchange transactions
Government-wide financial statements
Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB)
Governmental Finance Officers Association (GFOA)
Gross profit margin percentage
Guaranteed payments to partners
Guaranteed residual value (by the lessee)
IMA Statement of Ethical Professional Practice
Impairment of equity securities
Implied warranties (in sale goods)
Incident response management program
Income available to common shareholders
Income from continuing operations
Income in respect of a decedent
Incremental unit-time learning model
Indirect costs
Individual retirement account (IRA)
Information and communication systems
Information processing controls
Information technology general controls (ITGCS)
Infrastructure as a service (IAAS)
Inherent limitations internal control
Inherent limitations paragraph
Inherent risk of noncompliance
Injunction
Intercompany bond transactions
Intercompany profit fixed assets
Intercompany profit inventories
Internal control questionnaire
Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
International Accounting Standards Board (IASB)
Intrusion detection system (IDS)
Investment property in secured transactions
Involuntary petition in bankruptcy
Man in the middle attacks (MITM)
Managed floating exchange rates
Managed service providers (MSPS)
Management and general expenses
Management discussion and analysis
Management information system (MIS)
Management participation threat
Management representation letter
Mandatorily redeemable preferred stock
Marginal revenue product (MRP)
Material requirements planning (MRP)
Mean per unit (MPU) estimation
Media access control (MAC) address
Media access control (MAC) filtering
Misappropriation assets defalcation
Mobility device security policies
Modified accelerated cost recovery system (MACRS)
Modified accrual basis of accounting
Monetary assets and liabilities
Multiple step income statement
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
NIST of Cybersecurity Framework
Natural language processing (NLP)
Net assets with donor restrictions
Net assets without donor restrictions
Net investment in capital assets
Net method (of recording sales)
Net present value (NPV) method
Network exploitation exfiltration
Network intrusion prevention systems (NIPS)
Network operations center (NOC)
New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)
Next generation firewalls (NGFW)
Noncash operating financing activities
Non-compensatory stock purchase plan
Noncumulative preferred shares
Nonmonetary assets and liabilities
Nonprofit activity as used in discontinued operations
Nonreciprocal interfund activity
Nonrecognized subsequent event
Notes to the financial statements
Parallel simulation (Reperformance test)
Payment card industry data security standard (PCI DSS)
Percentage of accounts receivable at year-end method
Performance measurement
Permanent establishment
Personal holding company (PHC)
Personal identifiable information (PII)
Personal service corporation (PSC)
Phishing scams and business email compromise (BEC)
Physical and environmental (PE) protection
Pledge (in secured transactions)
Pledging of accounts receivable
Present value of an annuity of $1
Privileged account management (PAM)
Pro forma financial statements
Probability-proportional size (PPS) sampling
Proceeds (in secured transactions)
Profit center
Property, plant, and equipment (PP&E)
Prospective financial statements
Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB)
Reaffirmation of discharged debts
Real estate investment trust (REIT)
Recourse point objective (RPO)
Redundant array of independent disks (RAID)
Regulation S–X (17 CFR part 210)
Required supplementary information
Research and development cost and expenses
Residential clean energy credit
Reverse shell attacks/Connect-back shells attack
Revised Model Business Corporation Act (RMBCA)
Risk of assessing control (risk too high)
Risk of assessing control (risk too low)
Risk assessment (performed by an entity)
Risk management program integration
Risk of material noncompliance
Role-based access control (RBAC)
Routine incident response exercises
Search for unrecorded liabilities
Section 529 Qualified Tuition Program
Securities offering registration statement
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Security information event management (SIEM)
Selection and acquisition risks
Selling and administrative budget
Service commitments system requirements
Service Organization and Control (SOC) Reports
Service-oriented architecture (SOA)
Shifts in the economic balance of power
Significant class of transactions, account balance, or disclosure
Significant engagement deficiency
Small Employer Pension Plan Start-up Costs Credit
Secured overnight financing rate (SOFR)
Software-defined wide area network (SD) (WAN)
Special-purpose governmental unit
Specific identification method
Standard error of the estimate
Statement of changes in shareholders' equity
Statement of earnings (income statement)
Statement of Financial Accounting Standard (SFAS)
Statement of financial position (balance sheet)
Statement on Management Accounting (SMA)
Statement on Standards for Accounting and Review Services (SSARS)
Statements of Standards for Attestation and Engagements (SSAE)
Stop-or-go sampling (sequential sampling)
Straight-line depreciation method
Structured query language (SQL) Subcategories
Submission (of financial statements)
Sum-of-the-years' digits depreciation
Supply chain risk management (SCRM)
Unappropriated retained earnings
Uncollectible accounts receivable
Unearned revenue deferred revenue
Uninterrupted power supply (UPS)
Units of production depreciation
Unmodified unqualified opinion
Unrestricted current funds unrestricted operating general
Unrestricted net position governmental
US GAAP generally accepted accounting principles
Variable overhead efficiency variance
Voluntary health and welfare organizations
Voluntary health welfare organizations
Weighted average accumulated expenditures
Weighted average cost of capital (WACC)
Weighted average cost of capital (WACC)
Weighted average method of process costing
Weighted average method process costing
Weighted average number common shares outstanding
Weighted average number of common shares outstanding
Audit terms
This category covers key audit terms related to what you need to know related to assurance, attestation, and key audit matters.
Appropriate/appropriateness audit evidence
Audit documentation/working papers
Auditing standards board (ASB)
Generally accepted auditing standards (GAAS)
Generally accepted government auditing standards (GAGAS)
Independent service auditor’s report
Information systems audit and control association (ISACA)
Information systems audit control association (ISACA)
International standards auditing (ISAs)
Risk assessment performed by auditor
Statements on auditing standards (SAS)
Tax terms
This list compiles key tax terms related to different tax credits, deductions, allocations, and other elements of taxation.
Alternative minimum tax system
Base erosion anti-abuse tax (BEAT)
Charitable contribution deduction
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization (EBITDA)
Federal unemployment tax act (FUTA)
Global intangible low-taxed income (GILTI)
Qualified business income (QBI) deduction
Small business health care tax credit
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