English Vocabulary words to keep you ahead in the corporate world

          Vocabulary

        Definition

               Example

       A general ledger

Contains all accounts for recording transactions relating to a company’s assets, liabilities, owners’ equity, revenue, and expenses.

She was responsible for operating expenses and had access to the company’s general ledger.

        The management

Refers to the control and organization of things and people

The company has suffered from several years of bad management.

           To convene

To bring together a group of people for a meeting

The prime minister convened (a meeting of) his cabinet to discuss the matter.

              To cancel

To decide that an organized event will not happen, or to stop an order for goods or services that you no longer want

They had to cancel tomorrow’s game because of the bad weather.

  To schedule an appointment

To arrange for a meeting date.

Talk with my secretary and schedule an appointment for the next week.

The workload

The amount of work to be done by a particular person or machine in a specific period of time

Teachers are always complaining about their heavy workloads.

The backlog

A large number of things that you should have completed before and must prioritize now

I’ve got a huge backlog of work to do.

An invoice

A list of things provided or work done together with their cost, for payment at a later time

Invoices must be submitted by the 24th of every month.

A customer

A person who buys goods or a service

Mrs Wilson is one of our regular customers.

The patrons

A person or group that supports an activity or organization, especially by offering money

The royal princess is a well-known patron of several charities.

     To make benefits /profits     /money

To make benefits meaning to gaining advantage while to make profits or to make money means to earn money.

One of the many benefits of foreign travel is learning how to cope with the unexpected.

 A department / a division (US)

Refers to a particular section in a company or organization that is responsible for a specific area of activity.

He was part of the retail division for nearly three years.

Small and medium companies

Are non-subsidiary, independent firms which employ fewer than a given number of employees.

My company is defined as a small company because it consists of 15 people

To run a business

To create and maintain of a company

Nowadays is too difficult to run your own business.

Board members

Refer to those who jointly oversee the activities of a company or an organization.

The board members will have to consistently act responsibly and prudently.

     A minute of a meeting

Refers to the written record of what was said at a meeting

Harry will take the minutes of the meeting

      A board minutes

A written record of the proceedings and actions of the board of directors of a corporation or other entity.

The decided to announce certain organizational changes and hence, decided to share the board minutes with all the employees.

A statement

Refers to something that someone says or writes officially, or an action taken to express an opinion

The chairman is expected to issue a statement about the release of the new product to the press.

       To hold a conference

Means to arrange or schedule a conference at a specific place and specific time.

They decided to hold a conference tomorrow to understand employee concerns in the organisation.

To attend a workshop

To participate in an event that could be related to something mental like working on or sharpening your leadership skills etc.

Yesterday I attended a workshop on time management which was very interesting that really helped me in gaining some key tips to manage my time at work.

Assets and liabilities

Assets refer to resources with economic value that are owned by an individual or entity, with the expectation that these will generate future benefit while liabilities are legal obligation that binds an individual or entity to transfer economic benefits including money, goods or services to another individual or entity over time.

The business has assets and liabilities of 2 million euros.

A memorandum / a memo

A short written report prepared specially for a person or a group of people, that contains information about a particular matter.

Michael Davis has prepared a memorandum outlining our need for an additional warehouse.

Office chores

Routine task

The office chore of creating the team report is quite a tidious and manual task.

Office supplies

Refer to consumables and equipment regularly used in offices by businesses and other organizations, by individuals etc.

The company has a huge stock of office supplies but always maintains a record when an individual asks for one.

Stationery

Refers to things such as paper, pens, pencils and envelopes.

This shop sells all kinds of stationery at a reasonable price.

The letterhead

Refers to a printed heading on a piece of paper showing a person or organization’s name and address.

The secretary ordered another box of letterheads from the printer.

Letter paper

Paper used for writing letters or communications

Do you have an extra letter paper please?

A file / (to file)

Refers to a folder or box for holding loose papers together and in order for easy reference.

You’ll find the papers you’re looking for  in the files under “c”.

A binder/folder

Refers to a cover or holder, typically made of stiff paper or card, for storing loose papers.

A leather or plastic binder

A sheet protector

Refers to a flat, slitted plastic bag with a perforated edge used to hold paper documents

Always carry a sheet protector to hold important documents to prevent the pages from getting crumpled.

A file box

A folder, box used to keep documents or other items in order.

Get some file boxes and spend one day in a month sorting all papers and documents.

A customer file

Electronic resource, often a particular file or folder, that contains specific information about a customer and his/her purchasing history.

Give all the customer files because I want to analyze our target group.

To sort out

An occasion when you put things in order or in their correct place

I’ve had to sort-out the rift in the team in order to get business back to normal.

To sort  the mail

Means to put emails in order

Have you finished sorting those emails in an alphabetical order?

To tidy (up )

To clean up a place or arrange a collection of things

Tidy your desk before you leave, please.

To enclose

Refers to place or include something in an email along with a letter.

He enclosed the presentation in the email that he sent to the manager.

A bulletin board

Refers to a board on a wall on which notices can be put.

Please have a look at the bulletin board to see if your name is there in the list of employees coming in late and try to be on time tomorrow.

A chart / a graph

A pictorial drawing that represents  information in a simple way often using lines and curves to depict numbers / figures / amounts.

He prepared a graph to show the explain the reason for decrease in sales during the last one month.

A stapler

A device for fastening together sheets of paper with a staple or staples.

You’ll find staplers and paper clips next to the photocopier.

A staple

A piece of thin wire with two short right-angled end pieces which are driven by a stapler through sheets of paper to fasten them together.

Could you please get me some staples from the stationary shop as they are over.

A glue stick

Solid adhesives in twist or push-up tubes.

I used a glue stick to paste my collage together.

A copier / a copy machine

A machine that makes exact copies of something, especially documents..

The copier in my office is broken again

A fax machine

An exact copy of a document made by electronic scanning and transmitted as data by telecommunications links.

I’ll send you a fax with the details of the proposal.

A correction fluid

Liquid which helps to erase pen impressions from a paper.

Many schools don’t let students to use correction fluid during exams.

A calculator

A small electronic device that is used for doing mathematical calculations like addition, subtraction, multiplication etc.

Students are allowed to use calculators during the test.

A pencil

A long, thin object, usually made of wood, for writing or drawing.

He sat with his pencil poised, ready to take notes.

A colored (US) pencil /  a coloured (GB) pencil

Also referred to as a colored drawing tool

Children love using colored pencils to draw

A pen

A long, thin object used for writing or drawing with ink

Don’t write with a pen or else you won’t be able to erase out any mistakes you make.

A highlighter

A special pen containing bright ink, used to mark words in a book, magazine, etc.

Using a highlighter is the best way to memorize history from books

An eraser (US)  /  a rubber (GB)

A small piece of substance used to remove the marks made by a pencil

If you draw or write in pencil you can always rub out your mistakes with an eraser.

A paper clip

A small piece of bent wire used for holding pieces of paper together

You can use a paper clip to hold the pages together.

A tack

A small, sharp nail with a flat end

Brian fixed the poster to the noticeboard with tacks.

A lunch/coffee break

Lunch break is referred to the period in the middle of the day when people stop work to have lunch while a coffee break is simply a short break during the working day, during which people typically drink a cup of coffee or tea.

I’m sorry, Joanna isn’t here at the moment, she’s on her lunch break.

A shelf

A long, flat board fixed horizontally, usually against a wall or inside a cupboard so that objects can be stored on it.

Their office had a lot of cupboards yet they didn’t have any shelf empty to keep the files.

A toll-free call

Referred to a call to a toll-free number from a landline that is free of charge.

I need to make a toll-free call to the head office in Delhi.

Business hours

Hours during the day in which business is commonly conducted.

Business hours are from 8.30 a.m. To 5.30 p.m.

A storage room

Place to store anything and everything such as old files, folders, food commodities etc.

The company had some issues with space and hence, they decided to use the storage room to work.

Agenda / on the agenda

A list of matters to be discussed at a meeting

There were several important items on the agenda.

An assignment /a task

Referred to as a piece of work to be completed within a time frame.

We usually ask interviewees to perform a few simple tasks on the computer just to test their aptitude.

In bold (print)

Means printed in thick dark letters

This sentence is printed in bold.

A briefcase

A flat rectangular bag, used especially for carrying business documents

Roy carries a leather briefcase to work every day.

A deadline

A time or day by which a task or an assignment must be completed

We’re working to a tight deadline

A notebook

A book of blank sheets (without anything written on it) or plain paper or ruled pages, for writing on.

She was jotting things down in a little notebook.

A notepad

A pad of blank or ruled pages for writing notes on.

I always carry a notepad while attending meetings so that I can quickly pen down important points discussed.

A pair of scissors

A device used for cutting cloth, paper, and other material, consisting of two blades laid one on top of the other and fastened in the middle so as to allow them to be opened and closed by a thumb and finger inserted through rings on the end of their handles.

Be sure to include a good sharp pair of scissors in your stationary kit.

A drawer

A box-shaped container, without a top, that is part of a piece of furniture. It slides in and out to open and close and is used for keeping things in

I keep my socks in the bottom drawer.

A draft

A box-like storage compartment without a lid, made to slide horizontally in and out of a desk, or other piece of furniture.

Please put the papers into the drawer of the manager’s desk.

Expenditures /spendings

The total amount of money spent by a government or a person or an organization.

It’s part of a drive to cut government expenditure.

Expenditures and revenue

Refer to amount spent and earned respectively.

England has very high annual revenues but also high level of expenditures.

A fan

A machine with rotating blades that creates a current of air for cooling or ventilation.

Please switch on the fan as it is getting hold.

The directory

A book listing individual