Listening to an accountant speak can often leave you confused, because of various accounting abbreviations and acronyms that they tend to use. Accountants have a second language that is foreign to those who are not privy to the field.
But as accounting and finance are an important part of the world we live in, it is essential to be familiar with a wide range of accounting abbreviations and accounting acronyms. We have compiled a handy list of One Hundred Accounting Abbreviations, including accounting acronyms, to help you communicate with an accountant without any issues.

Most common Accounting Abbreviations and Accounting Acronym

1. Accounts Payable – AP:

This accounting abbreviation refers to the liability that has been incurred by a business and is yet to be paid.

2. Account Receivable – AR:

Part of revenue that has been generated but has not been collected.

3. Balance sheet – BS:

BS is the accounting abbreviation for the financial statement that reports on all of the company’s assets, liabilities, and equities.

4. Asset – A:

Any item of property that possesses a monetary value for the company.

See Also: Assets Vs Equity – Difference Between Assets And Equity

5. Accrued Expense – AE:

Any unpaid expense incurred by a business.

6. Book Value – BV:

In accounting abbreviations, BV represents the original value of an asset after eliminating accumulated depreciation.

7. Equity or Owner’s Equity – E:

The value left for a business after removing all of the liabilities.

8. Inventory – INV:

The unsold assets of a company that were purchased to be sold to customers.

9. Liability – L:

All unpaid debts that a company possesses.

10. Cost of Goods Sold – COGS:

COGS is the accounting abbreviation for the expense that is related to the creation of a product or service.

11. Depreciation – Dep:

The loss in substantial value of an asset over time.

12. Expense –Exp:

Any type of expense incurred by a business is called cost of business.

13. Gross Margin – GM:

Percentage of gross profit calculated by dividing gross profit and revenue.

14. Gross Profit – GP:

In accounting abbreviations, GP refers to profitability calculated by deducting costs of goods sold from revenue.

15. Income Statement or Profit & Loss Statement – IS/P&L:

A financial statement that presents revenues, expenses, and profits for a period.

16. Net Income – NI:

This accounting abbreviation refers to profit calculated by subtracting all of the expenses from revenues for a given period.

17. Net Margin – NM:

The percentage amount of a company’s profit in the total revenue.

18. Revenue – Sale or Rev:

Any money that has been earned by the business in exchange for goods and services.

19. Accounting Period:

The time reported in all of the financial statements of a company.

20. Allocation:

The process of assigning funds to different projects, accounts, or times.

21. Business Entity – Legal Entity:

Refers to the legal structure or legal type of a business.

22. Sole Proprietor – SP:

A business entity that is owned by a single person.

23. Partnership – P’ship:

A business entity owned by two or more partners.

24. Limited Liability Corporation – LLC:

A business structure in which owners are not personally liable for the debts of the company.

25. Cash flow – CF:

This accounting abbreviation refers to the inflow and outflow of cash within a business.

26. Certified Public Accountant – CPA:

A professional designation that an accountant can gain by passing the CPA exam.

27. Credit – CR:

The increase in a liability or equity account or decrease in asset account refers to credit aka CR in accounting abbreviations.

28. Debit – DR:

The increase in asset or expense account, or decrease in a liability or equity account.

29. Diversification – Divers:

A method of reducing risk where capital is allocated around multiple assets.

30. Enrolled Agent – EA:

Accounting designation representing professionals who have passed tests for business taxes and personal taxes.

31. Fixed Cost – FC:

This term refers to an expense that remains unchanged with the changing volume of sales.

32. General Ledger – GL:

In the accounting abbreviation, GL refers to the complete record managed for the company’s financial transactions.

33. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles – GAAP:

The rules that all accountants are required to abide by while performing different acts of accounting.

34. Interest – INT:

The amount paid on load or line of credit.

35. Journal Entry – JE:

The update or changes that are made to the financial books of a company.

36. Liquidity:

The ability to quickly convert into cash.

37. Present Value – PV:

The value of an asset as of today, as compared to its value at some different point in time.

38. Payroll – P/R:

An account that represents employee wages, salaries, bonuses, and deductions.

39. Variable Cost – VC:

The costs that change with the change in volume of sales for the business.

40. Trial Balance – TB:

The list of all accounts from the general ledger along with account balances.

41. Fixed Assets – FA:

Assets that can be retained in the long run, typically for more than one year.

42. Current Assets – CA:

Assets that can be quickly converted into cash, such as inventory or accounts receivable.

43. Capital – CAP:

Any financial asset that holds monetary value for the company, like cash and goods.

44. Fixed Expense – FE:

Payments that can happen in a regular or scheduled manner.

45. Variable Expense – VE:

Expense or payments that can change over time, i.e labor costs.

46. Operation Expenses – OE:

The expenditure of a business not related to the cost of production for goods or services.

47. Return on Investment – ROI:

A measure to gauge the financial performance of a business as compared to the amount invested within the business.

48. Subchapter S corporation – S – Corp:

A type of corporation where the business is taxed as a partnership and double taxation is not performed.

49. Individual retirement account – IRA:

An account that is treated as a saving vehicle for retirement and allows individuals chances for investment through pre-tax money.

50. Bonds and Coupons – B&C:

Bond refers to a form of debt investment that is considered fixed-income security. The annual interest rate over a bond is called a coupon.

51. A&A :

Audit and Assurance.

52. ASU:

Accounting standards Update.

53. ASB:

Auditing Standards Board.

54. Big 4:

The four largest CPA companies in the world.

55. CAQ:

Centre of Audit quality.

56. CFO:

Chief Financial Officer.

57. COO:

Chief Operating Officer.

58. C2b:

Consumer to business.

59. CPU:

Cost per Unit.

60. ERP:

Enterprise Resource Planning.

61. FASB:

Financial accounting standards board.

62. FinRec:

Financial Reporting Executive Committee.

63. GAAS:

Generally Accepted Auditing Standards.

64. IPO:

Initial Public offering.

65. IASB:

International Accounting Standard Board.

66. IFRS:

International Financial Reporting standards.

67. LOR:

Letters of Response.

68. PAT:

Profit after Tax.

69. PBT:

Profit before Tax.

70. PR:

Purchase Requisition.

71. PCC:

Private Company Council.

72. PRB:

Peer Review Board.

73. PCAOB:

Public Company accounting oversight board.

74. PA:

Public Accountant.

75. SOC:

Service Organization Control.

76. SEC:

Securities and Exchange Commission.

77. VAT:

Value Added Tax.

78. LTL:

Long Term Liability.

79. COE:

Cost of Equity.

80. F&A:

Facilities and Administrative costs.

81. EBITDA:

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.

82. COS:

cost of sales.

83. C/S:

Cost-sharing.

84. C+MV:

Cost plus Market value.

85. VC:

Venture Capital.86. CURR: Currency.

87. ACCG/ACCT:

Accounting.

88. ADT:

Auditing.

89. BUS/BSN:

Business.

90. FD:

Fund.

91. CAR:

Centralized Accounts Receivable.

92. CD:

Certificate of deposit.

93. CRC:

Cash receipts clearing.

94. CTL:

Control.

95. AAAC:

Average Actual acquisition cost.

96. AAAJ:

Accounting, auditing, and accountability journal.

97. FYE:

Financial Year-end.

98. LIFO:

Last in first out.

99. FIFO:

First in first out.

100. EPS:

Earnings per share.

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Farwah Jafri

Farwah Jafri is a financial management expert and Product Owner at Monily, where she leads financial services for small and medium businesses. With over a decade of experience, including a directorial role at Arthur Lawrence UK Ltd., she specializes in bookkeeping, payroll, and financial analytics. Farwah holds an MBA from Alliance Manchester Business School and a BS in Computer Software Engineering. Based in Houston, Texas, she is dedicated to helping businesses better their financial operations.