Accounts payable
Money an organization owes its vendors and suppliers.
Accounts receivable
Money an organization's customers owe the organization.
Action plans
Detailed steps a unit, department, or team will take in order to achieve short-term objectives.
Amendment
Modification of the Constitution or a law; modification may be either formal "written" or informal "unwritten".
Assets
Financial, physical, and sometimes intangible properties an organization owns.
Baby boomers
Group of people born between the years 1946 and 1964.
Balance sheet
Statement of a firm's financial position at a particular time.
Balanced scorecard
Measurement approach that provides an overall picture of an organization's performance as measured against goals in finance, customers, internal business processes, and learning and growth.
Bill
Proposal presented to a legislative body for possible enactment as a law.
Break-even analysis
Analysis that shows point in time at which total revenue associated with a program is equal to the total cost of the program.
Business case
Description of an organizational challenge and possible alternative solutions, arguing for a specific solution.
Capacity
To an operations department, the ability to yield output.
Cash flow statement
Record of how much cash is flowing into and out of an organization, including its sources or destinations.
Centralization
Degree to which decision-making authority is restricted to higher levels of management in an organization.
Code of ethics
Principles of conduct within an organization that guide decision making and behavior.
Consumer price index CPI
Measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by consumers for goods and services.
Control
To an operations department, an after-the-fact evaluation of a company's ability to meet its own specifications and its customers' needs.
Correlation
Measure that indicates the relationship between two variables.
Cost-benefit analysis
Ratio of value created to cost of creating that value; allows management to determine the financial impact particular activities and programs have on an organization's profitability.
Decentralization
Degree to which decision-making authority is given to lower levels in an organization's hierarchy.
Departmentalization
Way an organization groups jobs to coordinate work.
Divestiture
Sale by a company of an asset that is not performing well, that is not core to the company's business, or that is worth more as a separate entity.
Divisional structure
Organizational structure in which segments are separated by product, customer or market, or region.
Due diligence
Process of conducting an intensive investigation of an organization as one of the first steps in a pending merger or acquisition.
Electronic Communications Privacy Act ECPA
Act that makes it unlawful to intercept messages in transmission, access stored information on electronic communication services, or disclose this information.
Enterprise management
Integrated processes and tools to allow information sharing and process management across functions, sometimes even with external partners, such as suppliers.
Environmental scanning
Process that involves a systematic survey and interpretation of relevant data to identify external opportunities and threats.
Equity
Amount of owners' or shareholders' portion of a business.
Ethics
System of moral principles and values that establish appropriate conduct.
Extended organization
Alliance between organizations to create processes and information channels that allow communication and collaboration.
Financial ratios
Calculations designed to describe an organization's financial health and performance from various perspectives.
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act FCPA
Prohibits American companies from making corrupt payments to foreign officials for the purpose of obtaining or keeping business.
Formula budgeting
Form of budgeting in which an average cost is applied to comparable expenses and general funding is changed by a specific amount.
Functional structure
Organizational structure that defines departments by what services they contribute to the organization's overall mission.
Gantt chart
Project planning tool that graphically displays activities of a project in sequential order and plots them against time.
Generation X
Group of people born roughly between the years of 1965 and 1980.
Generation Y
Group of people born after 1980.
Gross domestic product GDP
Estimate of the total value of goods and services produced in a country in a given year.
Gross profit margin
Ratio of gross profit to net sales.
HR audit
Process to measure the effectiveness and efficiency of HR programs and positions.
Human capital
Combined knowledge, skills, and experience of a company's employees.
Human resource information system HRIS
Systematic tool for gathering, storing, maintaining, retrieving, and revising HR data.
Human resource management HRM
Design of formal systems in an organization that ensure the effective and efficient use of human capital to accomplish organizational goals.
Income statement
Statement comparing revenues, expenses, and profits over a specified period of time, usually a year or a quarter.
Incremental budgeting
Form of budgeting in which the prior budget is the basis for allocation of funds.
Inventory
To an operations department, an organization's major asset after physical buildings and equipment.
Key performance indicators KPIs
Quantifiable measures of performance used to gauge progress toward strategic objectives or agreed standards of performance.
Liabilities
Organization's debts and other financial obligations.
Line units
Work groups that conduct the major business of an organization.
Long-term objectives
Specific results, to be accomplished in three to five years, that an organization seeks to achieve in pursuing its mission.
Marketing
Process of planning, pricing, promoting, and distributing goods and services to satisfy organizational objectives.
Matrix structure
Organizational structure that combines departmentalization by division and function to gain the benefits of both.
Mean
Average score or value in a set of data.
Median
Middle point above and below which 50% of scores in a set of data lie.
Mergers and acquisitions M&A
Combination of two separate firms either by their joining together as relative equals "merger" or by one acquiring the other "acquisition".
Mid-term objectives
Serve a purpose similar to short-term objectives but are completed in one to three years.
Mission statement
Specifies what the organization does, who its customers are, and the priorities it has set in pursuing its work.
Mode
Value that occurs most frequently in a set of data.
Net profit margin
Ratio of net income, gross sales minus expenses and taxes, to net sales.
Normal distribution
Expected distribution given a random sampling across a large population.
Offshoring
Relocation of processes or functions from a "home" country to another country.
Percentile
Specific point in a distribution of data that has a given percentage of cases below it.
Population
Group of persons or objects or a complete set of observations or measurements about which one wishes to draw conclusions.
Primary research
Involves data that is gathered firsthand for a specific evaluation.
Product
What an organization sells to make a profit.
Program evaluation and review technique PERT chart
Project management tool used to schedule, organize, and coordinate tasks within a project.
Project
Series of tasks and activities that has a stated goal and objectives, a schedule with defined start and end dates, and a budget that sets limits on the use of monetary and human resources.
Promotion
Techniques for communicating information about products to consumers.
Public comment period
Time allowed for the public to express its views and concerns regarding an action of a regulatory agency.
Qualitative analysis
Based on research that supplies non-numeric data, for example, through the use of interviews, open-ended survey questions, and other methods that gather attitudes, opinions, and feelings.
Quantitative analysis
Seeks to obtain easily quantifiable data on a limited number of measurement points.
Quorum
Number of members of an organization that have to be present before official business may be conducted.
Range
Distance between highest and lowest scores in a set of data.
Regression analysis
Statistical method used to predict a variable from one or more predictor variables.
Regulation
Rule or order issued by a government agency; often has the force of law.
Reliability
Ability of an instrument to measure consistently.
Request for proposal RFP
Written request asking vendors to propose solutions and prices that fit a customer's requirements.
Research and development R&D
That part of an organization charged with designing and developing products, processes, and services to meet market needs.
Resolution
Legislative measure limited in effect to either the Congress or one of its chambers.
Return on investment ROI
Ratio of incremental value, value received minus cost to create value, of an investment to its cost multiplied by 100%; measures the economic return on a project or investment.
Sales
Business function responsible for selling an organization's product to the marketplace.
Sample
Portion of a population used to draw conclusions regarding an entire population.
Sarbanes-Oxley Act SOX
Act that changed corporate governance and reporting standards and underscored board of director's responsibility to help ensure financial accountability, accuracy, and compliance.
Scheduling
To an operations department, the act of detailed planning; based upon incoming orders, order history, and forecasts of future demand.
Secondary research
Uses data already gathered by others and reported in various sources.
Short-term objectives
Milestones that must be achieved, usually within six months to one year, in order to reach long-term objectives.
Span of control
Refers to the number of individuals who report to a supervisor.
Staff units
Work groups that assist line units by providing specialized services, such as HR.
Standard deviation
Measure that indicates how much scores in a set of data are spread out around a mean or average.
Standards
For an operations department, provide the yardstick by which the amount and quality of output are measured.
Strategic business management
Processes and activities used to formulate HR objectives, practices, and policies.
Strategic planning
Process that helps an organization focus on how to succeed in the future by evaluating the organization's current status, where it would like to be, and how to get there.
Strategies
Provide the direction that enables an organization to achieve its long-term objectives.
Supply chain
Network that delivers products and services from raw materials to end customers through an engineered flow of information, physical distribution, and cash.
SWOT analysis
Process for evaluating an organization's current strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
Validity
Ability of an instrument to measure what it is intended to measure.
Values
Describe what is important to an organization, dictate employee behavior, and create the organization's culture.
Veto
Action of canceling or postponing a decision or bill.
Vision statement
Vivid, guiding image of an organization's desired future.
Zero-based budgeting
Form of budgeting that requires that expenditures be justified for each new period.