Business English Vocabulary

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advertising - show your products to customers through radio, television or newspapers
"What is the best way for us to advertise our product?"
afford - able to buy, have enough money to buy
"Television is the best advertising, but the most expensive. Can we afford it?"
agenda - a detailed plan for a meeting.
"The first item on our agenda is advertising."
booming - business is growing very fast
"This year business is booming, so we can start thining about increasing our investments."
borrow - getting money from someone else, or from a ban, which we must pay bac later
"We need to borrow !"##,### to expand our business."
brand - the name of a well-nown product $%c&onald's, Coca Cola, (olswagen, etc.)
"We'll need to borrow money for advertising, then we'll build our brand awareness."
brea even - when our spending e*uals the amount we receive from sales
"The company didn't mae money nor lose money during the last *uarter. They +ust broe even."
bribe - secretly paying money to get special favors from a company or government official
",he was sent to prison for -# years for trying to bribe a high official."
budget - a detailed plan for spending money
"The second item on our agenda is the budget. We need to pay special attention to advertising,
mareting and building our sales staff. .h, and we need to significantly increase our budget for
/nglish teachers0"
calculate - to count, add, subtract, multiply, divide numbers
"1t's not hard to calculate - if we eep spending more money than we tae in, we'll have to sell
more0"
cancel - to decide 2.T to buy something that you had agreed to before
"3efore they cancel the order, find out what the problem is and fix it0"
capital - money
"1f we had more capital to invest, we would build a new factory."
charge for - as money for payment
"We never charge for repairs. %aing sure our products wor is included in the purchase price."
C/. - the top officer in a company, the chief executive officer
"4ow can we find a good C/. who nows how to run a business in today's business
environment?"
C5. - the top financial officer in a company
"The C5. will be attending today's meeting to tal about fundamental accounting principles."
commission - a percentage of each sale that goes directly to the salesperson
".ur salespeople get "#6 for each item sold, but that increases as he or she sells more."
competition - other companies that mae the same product as yours
"We face tough competition, but our product has some important advantages."
consumption - the total amount of product bought in a maret
"7lthough prices have fallen, overall consumption is higher, so we can still mae money."
credit - when you buy first, but pay later
"8ou can buy this product on credit. The payment will be due in 9# days."
currency - the money of one country
"1f you exhange currency in the airport, you'll pay a large commission. :o to a ban instead."
deadline - the time by which some pro+ect must be finished
"We have to finish this by 5riday. That's the final deadline."
demand - the wish of customers to buy a product
";ntil demand increases, we won't sell many of our most expensive products."
discount - a lower price
"1f you buy more than "## of these, we will give you a "#6 discount".
distribution - getting the product to the final consumer, or customer
".ur distribution system needs to be improved if we are to meet increased demand."
diversify - start many new businesses instead of doing +ust one
"1f we diversify, we can mae more money, but sales of our main product may go down."
economics - the study of finance and money
"1f you want to succeed in business, you should study economics."
employee - a worer
"/mployees today need to learn so much to be able to move up in the company."
employer - the person who finds and pays worers
"%y employer told me 1 have to wor overtime or 1'll lose my +ob0"
estimate - a guess about how much something will cost
"We estimate the new factory will cost less than <# million euros."
export - to send goods out of a country
"7s the local currency drops in value, our exports to that country also drop."
extend - to give more, especially a loan of money
"The ban said they cannot extend the deadline. We have to pay by 5riday or face the
conse*uences."
finance - the study of money and how to use money well
"7fter you study finance, you will now how to increase profits and limit losses."
fund - to provide money in general.
"The C5. said the company plans to fund =#6 of the pro+ect. The rest will come from the
government."
gross - amount of money received from sales
"We too in more than !"## million in gross sales last year.
import - to bring goods into a country
"When our currency is strong, we can import more goods into our own country."
incentive - a special price to get customers to buy
"3y offering a "=6 discount as an incentive, we'll attract many new customers."
income tax - money paid to the government, based on total money received
"1 thought 1 made enough money last year, but after paying <=6 income tax, 1 didn't have
enough to buy that new house."
inflation - rising prices
">ising energy prices have caused many other prices to increase. The rate of inflation has
increased to ?6."
install - to put in and prepare for use, as with a machine
"1f you buy now, we'll install this machine for free."
interest - extra money needed to pay bac borrowed money
"When you pay bac the "##,### euros, you must also pay "#6 interest, so the total will be
""#,### euros."
inventory - unsold items that you eep so that you can sell them in the future
".ur inventory is very low right now. We have to increase build up our inventory to meet
demand in the coming year.
invest - spending money so that we can mae more in the future
"1f we invest so much money in a new factory, we won't have any money in our budget for new
advertising."
invoice - a paper which explains what was sold and at what prices
"@oo at the invoice. 8ou charged us for repairs that you said were free0"
leadership - the sill of managing people
"4e has natural leadership sills, so he will surely be successful."
lend - giving money to someone else, which they will pay bac to us later
"When did you lend him the money? 1 lent it to him two months ago."
loss - when we spend more money than we receive from selling our product
"We too a loss last year, but this year we are spending less and selling more."
lucrative - the possibility of maing a great amount of money
"This could be a very lucrative contract0 Well mae money for each sale as well as for each
installation0"
maintain - eep a machine in good condition
"1f you maintain this product, it will last for years."
management - the study of how to run a business and lead people
"1 plan to study management before 1 open my own business."
memo - a paper with a message, sent to other people in the same company
"The C5. read the C/.'s memo at the meeting, to remind the employees of the company's
strategic goals."
monopoly - when only one company controls a whole maret
"With this new product, we can brea our competitor's monopoly."
negotiate - try to get a better price or mae a better arrangement
"We negotiated for hours before they finally gave us a <#6 discount."
net - the amount of money received from sales, after expenses are subtracted
".ur gross sales were very good, but we need to cut expenses to add to our net sales."
principal - the main part of a loan, before interest is added
"We can pay bac the pincipal in "# years, then we will only have to repay the interest."
process $verb) - get something ready.
"Alease process his employement application, then send him to the accounting office."
profit - the money left over after all expenses are paid
".ur profits are lower this year, but at least we're not losing money0"
*uarter - three months of the year, the usual time for planning and reporting financial reports
"@ast *uarter was our best ever, and 1 am confident next *uarter will be even better."
recruit - search for and choose worers
"We'll need to recruit new employees before the factory starts operation."
refund - giving money bac to the customer if there is a problem with the item you sell
"We cannot give you a refund after 9# days. ,orry0"
resign - *uit a +ob suddenly
"2obody nows why the C5. *uit, but some people say he didn't get along with the C/.."
retail - selling to the final customer
"The retail price is "=# euros, but you can buy it for less if you bargain."
retire - finish wor after a long career $at age B= in the ;.,., B# in Capan, == in China...)
"1've saved enough money for my retirement, but if 1 want to retire to 4awaii, 1 have to save even
more0"
sales tax - money paid to the government, based on sales made
"1n most states in the ;.,., sales tax is added on after the sale. 1t varies from state to state."
salary - a monthly or yearly pay to managers of important worers
"We will have a salary increase of ?6 this year, +ust enough to eep up with inflation."
saturated - too many companies producing the same product
"The maret for product 7 is already saturated. We need to diversify if we wish to increase our
profits."
sluggish - when business is slow $opposite of "booming")
"1n this sluggish economy, the best we can hope for is to brea even."
supply - the total amount of a product available in a maret
"The supply of computer parts is too high, so the price is falling fast."
target - the amount that you plan to sell in a month $also "*uota")
"The salesman reached his target by the <Dth. 4e'll get a larger commission on any sales after
that."
tariff - a tax on imports from another country
"1f the government puts a tariff on electronic products, sales will fall."
terms - the details of an agreement or contract
"The terms of this contract are *uite good. 1 thin we have a deal0"
trend - movement in one direction, especially about product becoming more and more popular
"The trend towards more colorful fashion is getting stronger. We need to develop new products."
unit cost - the average amount needed to produce a product
"1f we can produce more of these, our unit price will fall, and we'll be able to mae a better
profit."
warranty - a promise that the things you sell will be of good *uality
"This product has a one-year warranty, but if you pay a small fee, we can extend it to five years."
wholesale - selling to a salesman who will then sell to the final customer
"The wholesale price is generally =#6 of the retail price."