Glossary
Financial Manager Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential financial manager terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key financial manager vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in financial manager training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Audit
- Independent review.
- Balance sheet
- Assets, liabilities and equity.
- Capital budgeting
- Deciding on big investments.
- Cash flow
- Money in and out.
- CFO
- Chief financial officer.
- Controller
- Head of accounting.
- Forecast
- Projected results.
- FP&A
- Financial planning and analysis.
- GAAP
- Generally accepted accounting principles.
- Income statement
- Revenue and expenses.
- Internal controls
- Checks that prevent errors and fraud.
- Month-end close
- Finalizing monthly books.
- ROI
- Return on investment.
- Treasurer
- Manages cash and investments.
- Working capital
- Current assets minus liabilities.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Financial Manager practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Financial Manager training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.