Definitions

As CPA and business people we like to throw out a lot of words that many people may not understand. Even when defined, they still don’t make sense. So, like the drive for plain English financial reports, I’m going to try some plain English definitions of terms you may come across in your work.

• Metadata – data about data
• Contract Asset – a receivable you don’t have the right to make the customer pay
• DUNS Number – social security number for a business (its even 9 digits too!)
• Risk appetite – how much risk you are willing to take; are you mild, medium or atomic tongue twist
• Tweet – 140 characters that can tell you everything by saying nothing in grammatically correct English
• Cybersecurity – the new definition of an oxymoron
• FASB – 7 people who decide what is generally accepted by hundreds of thousands of CPAs

What other definitions do you think I should add to the list?