Commerce Glossary

I've been studying Commerce for almost two years and when people ask me about my program, they usually don't understand what I'm studying or it's very vague to them. The Commerce Profile consists mostly of economics, mathematics and Business courses. We learn how companies are structured, what each common departments (Marketing, Finance, Operations management, Human Resources, and IT) does, what is business law and what are the different types, etc. The Commerce Profile is filled with jargon, abbreviations and technical terminology. This Commerce Glossary compiles some of the most common terms you need to know for general culture and for a better understanding of the business world.

Accounting

noun

The action or process of keeping financial accounts. The accounting process includes summarizing, analyzing, and reporting these transactions to oversight agencies, regulators, and tax collection entities. The financial statements used in accounting are a concise summary of financial transactions over an accounting period, summarizing a company's operations, financial position, and cash flows.

Example: An accounting transaction is a business event having a monetary impact on the financial statements of a business. It is recorded in the accounting records of the business.

fr: Comptabilité

Actuary

noun

A person who compiles and analyzes statistics and uses them to calculate insurance risks and premiums.

Example: Actuaries need to estimate long-term levels of damage caused by Hurricane Katrina in order to accurately price property insurance, set appropriate reserves, and design appropriate reinsurance and capital management strategies.

fr: Actuaire

Administration

noun

The activity of managing or dealing with a business activity.

Example: She studied business administration at New York University.

fr: Administration

Annuity

noun

A form of insurance or investment entitling the investor to a series of annual sums.

Example: The goal of an annuity is to provide a steady stream of income, typically during retirement.

fr: Annuité

Budget

noun

A plan to show how much money a person or organization will earn and how much they will need or be able to spend.

Example: The firm has drawn up a budget for the coming financial year.

fr: Budget

Business

noun

The term business refers to an organization or enterprising entity engaged in commercial, industrial, or professional activities.

Example: There are three main levels of environment I, as the farm manager must study in order to achieve a successful Business and these are the General environment, the Task environment and the Internal environment.

fr: Entreprise

Capital gain

noun

A profit from the sale of property or an investment.

Example: A tax is imposed when individuals part with an asset and make capital gains on it.

fr: Gain en capital

Commerce

noun

The exchange or buying and selling of commodities on a large scale involving transportation from place to place.

Example: When identifying the functions of Roman town's archaeologists may look at the main features of roman urbanism, these include; a centre of administration (the forum), sites of public entertainment (theatres amphitheatres), religious worship sites (temples), places of private occupation and sites of trade and commerce (markets).

fr: Commerce

Compound interest

noun

Compound interest is the addition of interest to the principal sum of a loan or deposit, or in other words, interest on interest. It is the result of reinvesting interest, rather than paying it out, so that interest in the next period is then earned on the principal sum plus previously accumulated interest.

Example: If you deposit $1,000 in an account that pays 1 percent annual interest, you'd get $10 in interest after a year. Compound interest is interest that you earn on interest. So, in the above example, in year two, you'd earn 1 percent on $1,010, or $10.10 in interest payouts.

fr: Intérêts composés

Credit

noun

A method of paying for goods or services at a later time, usually paying interest as well as the original money.

Example: They decided to buy the car on credit.

fr: Crédit

Demand

noun

The desire of purchasers, consumers, clients, employers, etc., for a particular commodity, service, or other item.

Example: The demand for steel has skyrocketed.

fr: Demande

Economics

noun

The branch of knowledge concerned with the production, consumption, and transfer of wealth.

Example: Their ideas sound fine in principle, but they haven't worked out the economics behind the policies.

fr: Économie

Finance

noun

The activity or business of managing money, especially for a company or government.

Example: Employment is expected to grow in finance, insurance, real estate, trade and services industries.

fr: Finance

Fiscal year

noun

A year as reckoned for taxing or accounting purposes.

Example: The firm is expected to turn a profit for its fiscal year ending April 30.

fr: Année fiscale

Goods

noun

Merchandise or possessions.

Example: The imports of luxury goods such as boats and luxury cars.

fr: Biens

Human Resources

noun

The department of a business or organization that deals with the hiring, administration, and training of personnel.

Example: The director of human resources at the company recruited me.

fr: Ressources humaines

Inflation

noun

A general increase in prices and fall in the purchasing value of money.

Example: Policies aimed at controlling inflation.

fr: Inflation

IT (Information Technology)

noun

The study or use of systems (especially computers and telecommunications) for storing, retrieving, and sending information.

Example: The firm hired some information technology consultants.

fr: TI (technologie de l'information)

Interest

noun

Money paid regularly at a particular rate for the use of money lent, or for delaying the repayment of a debt.

Example: The monthly rate of interest.

fr: Intérêt

Logistic

noun

Logistics refers to the overall process of managing how resources are acquired, stored, and transported to their final destination. Logistics management involves identifying prospective distributors and suppliers and determining their effectiveness and accessibility.

Example: As with many other areas of the economy, the digital revolution is having a profound effect on delivery logistics. The combination of mobile computing, analytics, and cloud services, all of which are fueled by the Internet of Things (IoT), is changing how delivery and fulfillment companies are conducting their operations.

fr: Logistique

Macroeconomics

noun

The part of economics concerned with large-scale or general economic factors, such as interest rates and national productivity.

Example: The field of macroeconomics is organized into many different schools of thought, with differing views on how the markets and their participants operate.

fr: Macroéconomie

Market

noun

An area or arena in which commercial dealings are conducted. The free market; the operation of supply and demand.

Example: Future development cannot simply be left to the market.

fr: Marché

Marketing

noun

The action or business of promoting and selling products or services, including market research and advertising.

Example: The Western arts of marketing and distribution.

fr: Commercialisation

Microeconomics

noun

The part of economics concerned with single factors and the effects of individual decisions.

Example: One goal of microeconomics is to analyze the market mechanisms that establish relative prices among goods and services and allocate limited resources among alternative uses.

fr: Microéconomie

Monopoly

noun

The exclusive possession or control of the supply of or trade in a commodity or service.

Example: His likely motive was to protect his regional monopoly on furs.

fr: Monopole

Oligopoly

noun

A state of limited competition, in which a market is shared by a small number of producers or sellers.

Example: The Bertrand and Cournot competition models both relate to an oligopoly. An oligopoly is a market with relatively few firms but many buyers.

fr: Oligopole

Operations Management

noun

Operations management (OM) is the administration of business practices to create the highest level of efficiency possible within an organization. It is concerned with converting materials and labor into goods and services as efficiently as possible to maximize the profit of an organization. Operations management teams attempt to balance costs with revenue to achieve the highest net operating profit possible.

Example: Operations managers acquire, develop, and deliver goods to clients based on client needs and the abilities of the company.

fr: Gestion des opérations

Profits

noun

Money that is earned in trade or business after paying the costs of producing and selling goods and services.

Example: You don't expect to make much profit within the first couple of years of setting up a company.

fr: Bénéfices

Sales

noun

A sale is a transaction between two or more parties in which the buyer receives tangible or intangible goods, services, or assets in exchange for money. In some cases, other assets are paid to a seller. In the financial markets, a sale can also refer to an agreement that a buyer and seller make regarding the price of a security.

Example: I just made a huge sale of a million dollar today.

fr: Ventes

Service

noun

A non-tangible product sold by a company in return of profit.

Example: Why don't you call the babysitting service?

fr: Service

Statistics

noun

The practice or science of collecting and analyzing numerical data in large quantities, especially for the purpose of inferring proportions in a whole from those in a representative sample.

Example: At the store, forecasting is primarily based on managerial experience and examining demand statistics.

fr: Statistiques

Stock Market

noun

A stock market, equity market, or share market is the aggregation of buyers and sellers of stocks (also called shares), which represent ownership claims on businesses; these may include securities listed on a public stock exchange, as well as stock that is only traded privately, such as shares of private companies which are sold to investors through equity crowdfunding platforms.

Example: The stock market is bullish today.

fr: Marché boursier

Supply

noun

The amount of a good or service offered for sale.

Example: The supply for steel is plummeting these days.

fr: Offre

This glossary was made with the Virtual Writing Tutor glossary maker and grammar checker.