The following is a glossary of common business terms found within Jobsons.  Links to related sites have been provided where appropriate.

• ACCC: Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, formerly the Trade Practices Commission.
• All ordinaries Index: a share price index measuring the market prices of the major stocks listed on the ASX.
• ASIC: Australian Securities & Investments Commission.
• ASX: Australian Stock Exchange.
• asset backing: net assets divided by the number of issued shares.
• at a discount: below par value.
• at a premium: above par value.
• bear market: a falling market.
• blue chip stocks: shares in large, soundly-based public companies.
• bonus issue: shares in a company which are issued free to existing shareholders. Often made in lieu of a dividend payout.
• bull market:: a rising market.
• call option: a right held by a person to buy at any time during a certain period a certain number of issued shares at a price fixed at the time the option is given.
• cash issue: a new issue of shares made to existing shareholders in proportion to their existing shareholding for the purpose of raising additional working capital.
• contributing share: a partly paid share.
• convertible note: a fixed interest security issued to a lender by a company in return for cash.
• convertible redeemable preference share: similar to convertible notes in that they may be converted to ordinary shares, though the holders of convertible redeemable preference shares rank above noteholders should the company be wound up.
• debenture: a type of fixed interest security, issued by companies in return for medium and long-term investment of funds. Issued to the public through a prospectus and secured by a trust deed.
• debt-to-equity ratio: a measure of a company's gearing, or borrowing. Calculated by dividing all financial debt by shareholders' funds.
• delisting: the removal of a company's shares from listing on the stock exchange
• depreciation: the accounting process by which the wastage of a fixed asset with a limited useful life is progressively brought into account by periodic charges against revenue.
• dividend: what is paid out of a company's net profit to its shareholders. Expressed as cents per share.
• dividend cover: the number of times the amount of dividend paid by a company is covered by its earnings. Calculated by dividing the net profit by the amount paid in dividends.
• dividend imputation: the tax rule that allows dividends to be taxed only once, either by the company or, if the company does not pay tax, by the shareholder.
• dividend reinvestment plan: an option given to shareholders allowing them to reinvest all or part of their dividends in additional new shares, usually at a discount from the market price.
• dividend yield: the return on an investment. Calculated by dividing the dividend per share by the current share price. Expressed as a percentage.
• Dow Jones Index: a share price index measuring the market prices of 30 representative industrial companies on the New York Stock Exchange.
• due date: the maturity date; the date when a bond, note or other evidence of debt becomes payable or legally demandable.
• due diligence: the process of checking and verifying information contained in a statement (eg. a prospectus) to be released to the public prior to the registration of that statement.
• earnings per share (EPS): earnings attributable to each ordinary share. calculated by dividing the company's after-tax profit (excluding extraordinary items) by the number of issued ordinary shares.
• EBIT: earnings before interest and tax.
• escrow: a deed delivered subject to a condition so that it is not to operate until that condition is fulfilled.
• exercise: the act of converting on option into its underlying commodity or security.
• extraordinary items: income or expenses which are quite outside the normal course of a company's business and which are shown separately from the annual profit or loss calculations.
• FDA: Food and Drug Administration, a US government authority.
• float: to issue shares in a company to the public.
• franked dividends: dividends paid out of company profits on which the full tax has been paid, so that the dividends are tax-free in the hands of shareholders.
• fully paid shares: shares on which no uncalled capital is due.
• gearing: the relationship between a company's shareholders' funds and some form of outside borrowing. Expressed as a ratio.
• gross yield: return on an investment before tax is deducted.
• Hang Seng Index: the principal Hong Kong share price index, equivalent to the Australian All Ordinaries Index.
• home exchange:  when an organisation is admitted to the official list of Australian stock exchanges, one of those exchanges is designated the Home Exchange of the organisation.
• interim dividend: a dividend declared in advance of the annual accounts and paid as an advance instalment of the dividend for the year.
• issued capital: that part of the share capital which has been issued to subscribers for shares in the company.
• joint venture: cooperation between two or more companies on the one project to produce mutually agreeable results.
• limited company: a registered company in which the liability of each shareholder is limited to the uncalled capital liability on his/her shares.
• liquidity ratio: a measure of the ratio between current assets and current liabilities.
• market capitalisation: the stock market's assessment of a company's value. Calculated by multiplying the number of shares on issue by the individual share price.
• merger: corporate restructuring in which two companies combine into one.
• mW: megawatts.
• NZSE: New Zealand Stock Exchange.
• options: contracts which give the holder the right to buy or sell shares during a given period of time.
• ordinary shares: fully paid shares, which rank after debentures and preference shares for dividend payments.
• paid-up capital: the proportion of a company's issued capital that has been paid for by its shareholders.
• Part A statement: details of an off-market takeover offer which must be sent by the offeror to all shareholders of the target company.
• Part B statement: the target company's response to an off-market takeover offer.
• Part C statement: the same as a Part A statement, yet for an on-market takeover offer.
• Part D statement: the same as a Part B statement, yet for an on-market takeover offer.
• par value: the value given to a share when first offered to the public. Also called face value or nominal value.
•  payout ratio: a measure of the proportion of profit that is distributed through dividends to ordinary shareholders. Calculated by dividing the dividends by the net profit after tax, minority interests and preference dividends (but before extraordinary items).
• preference shares: shares which rank ahead of ordinary shares for the purpose of claiming dividend payments or any assets of the company should it be wound up. They rank below creditors and debentures.
• premium: the amount by which shares are issued above par value.
•  price-earnings ratio (PE): measures the relationship between the market price of a company's shares and the earnings per share.
• prospectus: a document issued by a company seeking to raise money from the public through the issue of shares.
• PSC: production sharing contract.
• R&D: research and development.
• retained earnings: the proportion of profit that is held in a business after dividends have been paid.
• rights issue: an offer of additional shares to existing shareholders, in proportion to their holdings, to raise money for the company. Rights issues are renounceable, meaning the shareholder can sell his or her right to the shares.
• second board: the stock exchange board through which smaller companies raise capital and on which their shares are listed.
• shareholders' funds: what belongs to the shareholders of a company - issued capital, retained profit.
• share register: the record of a company's shareholders, showing their holdings.
• SIA: Securities Institute of Australia.
• Standard & Poor's: a highly regarded US corporate credit ratings bureau.
• subsidiary: a company under the control or parentage of another company which owns all or most of it. It is its own entity and pays its own tax.
• substantial shareholder: a shareholder whose shares total more than 10% of a company's issued capital. They must advise the stock exchange of any purchase or sale that changes their holding.
• suspended: trading in a company's shares is temporarily stopped, either by the company or the exchange, pending an announcement by the company or a decision by the exchange.
• takeover: the acquisition of a controlling interest in a company by another company through the purchase of its shares.
• tpa: tonnes per annum.
• trust deed: a document conveying title to trust property to the trustee and setting out the purposes for which a trust has been formed, the rights and obligations of the trustee, of the trust's manager and of the trust's beneficiaries.
• trustee: all trusts have a trustee who monitors the trust's activities on behalf of the beneficiaries.
• trust fund: money held on behalf of investors or depositors, to be used at the discretion of the trustee in their interest.
• turnover: total sales for a given period.
• unit trust: a company which allows investors with small amounts of money to pool their funds and have them invested by a professional fund manager.

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