Business terminology

Assets

Benchmarking

Business angel

Commodity

Arbitrage

Exit strategy

Enterprise value

Capital

Accounting period

Venture capital

This is any item which can be freely bought and sold. Examples include gold, food products and coffee beans.

Also known as an angel investor. An individual who provides capital for a business start-up in return for a stake in the company.

Money invested into a company or project by its owners.

The time for which profits are being calculated, normally months, quarters or years.

Capital invested into projects with higher risks, usually start-up businesses.

The process by which a person or business takes advantage of the difference in price of a share or a currency.

This is the market value of a business. It is calculated by market capitalisation times current share price, minus cash, plus debt.

A plan to enable you to leave your business, either after achieving your goal or deciding you would like to move on to do something else while recouping any capital you invested when starting the company.

Property that has value owned by a company.

Checking your company’s standards by comparing them with certain criteria, e.g. a competitor’s activities.