Business Terms

Facsimile machine (FAX): Machine capable of transmitting written input via telephone lines.

Factor: a variable investigated in a statistical study.

Feasibility study: an investigation into a proposed plan or project to determine whether and how it can be successfully and profitably carried out.

Federal funds: an deposits held in reserve by the Federal Reserve System.

Feedback: the communication of responses and reactions to proposals and changes or to the findings of performance appraisals with the aim of enabling improvements to be made.

FIFO: FIRST IN FIRST OUT, a method of inventory control where the stock of a given product first placed in store is used before more recently produced or acquired goods or materials.

Finance: the money needed by an individual or company to pay for something, for example, a project or stocks.

Financial statements: Documents that show your financial situation.

Fiscal: relating to financial matters, especially in respect to government collection, use and regulation of money through taxation.

Fixed asset: a long term asset of a business such as a machine or building that will not usually be traded.

Fixed expenses: Those costs which don't vary from one period to the next. Generally, these expenses are not affected by the volume of business.

Float: The period between the presentation of a check as payment and the actual payment to the payee.

Floating rate: an interest rate that is not fixed and which changes according to fluctuations in the market

Floor: a lower limit on an interest rate, price, or the value of an asset.

Flow chart: a graphic representation of the stages in a process or system or the steps required to solve a problem.

Forecast: a prediction of the value of a variable in a statistical study

Forward pricing: the establishment of the price of a share in a mutual fund based on the next asset valuation.

Forward rate: an estimate of what an interest rate will be at a specified future time.

Franchise: an agreement enabling a third party to sell or provide products or services owned by a manufacturer or supplier. The franchise is regulated by a franchise contract, or franchise agreement, that specifies the terms and conditions of the franchise.

Franchise chain: a number of retail outlets operating the same franchise. A franchise chain may vary in size from a few to many thousands of outlets and in coverage from a small local area to worldwide.

Fraud: the use of dishonesty, deception. or false representation in order to gain a material advantage or to injure the interest of others.

Freebie: a product or service that is given away, often as a business promotion.

Free enterprise: the trade carried on in a free-market economy, where resources are allocated on the basis of supply and demand.

Free market: a market in which supply and demand are unregulated except by the country's competition policy, and rights in physical and intellectual property are upheld.

Fulfillment: the process of responding to customer inquiries, orders, or sales promotion offers.

Future: a contract to deliver a commodity at a future date.

Futures market: a market for buying and selling securities, commodities, or currencies that tend to fluctuate in price over a period of time. The market's aim is to reduce the risk of uncertainty about future prices.

Fundraising: Events staged to raise revenue.