B2BBusiness to business. |
B2CBusiness to consumer |
Balance sheetA ‘snapshot’ of a company’s assets, liabilities and capital at a particular point in time. |
Base rateSet each month by the Bank of England, this is the country’s base rate of interest. This influences financial products and services when they set their own cost of borrowing. |
BenchmarkingChecking your company’s standards by comparing them with certain criteria, e.g. a competitor’s activities. |
Bid-offer spreadThe buying (offer) and selling (bid) price of shares, bonds or currency. The ‘spread’ is the difference between those two prices. |
Black swanFinancial events that are difficult to predict. It is called this because before people ventured to Australia, swans were assumed to only be white. No one had seen a black one until then. |
Blue chipThis term originates from poker as blue chips are traditionally the highest-valued. Therefore, a blue-chip company is one that is large and considered to be safe or prestigious. |
BondAn agreement made when money is borrowed from an investor at a set rate of interest. It is repaid over a set period of time. Bonds are rated from the safest (AAA) to the riskiest (D), also known as 'junk bonds'. |
BootstrappingBuilding a start-up company with very little money, often relying on personal savings and pushing for the lowest possible operating costs, while implementing cost-saving systems such as fast inventory turnaround. Making a forecast beyond a certain period by using the forecasted data for that period. |