abandonment
The act of giving up the ownership of something covered by an insurance policy and treating it as if it has been completely lost or destroyed. If the insurers agree to abandonment, they will pay a ...
abandonment
The withdrawal or ending of a product, usually at the end of its life cycle or when it can no longer be produced profitably.
abbreviated accounts
A shorter form of annual accounts that may be filed by a company qualifying as a small or medium-sized company under the Companies Act. The use of abbreviated accounts can cut costs and save time. It ...
ABC classification
A method of ranking items held in inventory enabling particular attention to be given to those that, if incorrectly managed, will be most damaging to the effectiveness or the efficiency of an ...
ability to pay
Generally a condition of an issuer of long-term debt to meet the principal and interest payments (cf. default). See credit analysis; credit ratings.
ability to pay
The principle that taxes should be levied on the basis of taxpayers' ability to pay. This normally leads to the view that as income or wealth increases, its marginal utility (its value to its owner) ...
abnormal loss
The loss arising from a manufacturing or chemical process through abnormal waste, shrinkage, seepage, or spoilage in excess of the normal loss. It may be expressed as a weight or volume or in other ...
above the fold
Originally the upper half of the front page of a newspaper that was visible when the paper was folded, which was the normal presentation format to customers when displayed by newspaper vendors on a ...
above-the-line
Denoting those entries printed above the horizontal line on a company’s profit and loss account that separates the profit (or loss) from the entries showing how the profit is distributed. Compare ...
absence culture
An organizational culture in which a certain degree of absenteeism has come to be accepted as the norm. In companies with such a culture it may become routine for managers and workers to take ...
absenteeism
Is the practice of regularly failing to turn up for work. Employees are contractually obliged to be available for work during specified hours, and failure to do so without legitimate reasons (for ...
absolute cost advantage
The cost advantage enjoyed by a country in producing certain goods, compared to costs in other countries. The costs of producing similar products vary between different countries because certain ...
absolute income hypothesis
A theory developed by John Maynard Keynes which puts forward the idea that consumption will rise as income rises, but not necessarily at the same rate.
absolute performance standard
A standard set at the theoretical limit of performance. For example, in manufacturing, the theoretical quality standard of ‘zero defects’, which it is impossible to improve on, might be set as the ...
absorb
To assimilate or incorporate amounts in an account or a group of accounts so that they are absorbed and lose their identity. See absorption costing.
absorbed overhead
The amount of the overhead of an organization charged to, or borne by, the production of that organization for the accounting period under consideration when the technique of absorption costing is ...
absorption
An accounting process used in absorption costing in which the overhead of an organization is borne by the production of that organization by the use of absorption rates.
absorption account
An account opened when a system of double-entry cost accounting is in operation to show the amount of overhead that has been absorbed by the production.
