Definition of Sales

Sales

Amounts earned by the company from the sale of merchandise or services; often used interchangeably with the term revenue.

Conditional sales contracts

Similar to equipment trust certificates except that the lender is either the
equipment manufacturer or a bank or finance company to whom the manufacturer has sold the conditional
sales contract.

Contingent deferred sales charge (CDSC)

The formal name for the load of a back-end load fund.

Days' sales in inventory ratio

The average number of days' worth of sales that is held in inventory.

Days' sales outstanding

Average collection period.

Domestic International Sales Corporation (DISC)

A U.S. corporation that receives a tax incentive for
export activities.

Foreign Sales Corporation (FSC)

A special type of corporation created by the Tax Reform Act of 1984 that
is designed to provide a tax incentive for exporting U.S.-produced goods.

Price/sales ratio (PS Ratio)

Determined by dividing current stock price by revenue per share (adjusted for stock splits).
Revenue per share for the P/S ratio is determined by dividing revenue for past 12 months by number of shares
outstanding.

Sales charge

The fee charged by a mutual fund when purchasing shares, usually payable as a commission to
marketing agent, such as a financial advisor, who is thus compensated for his assistance to a purchaser. It
represents the difference, if any, between the share purchase price and the share net asset value.

Sales forecast

A key input to a firm's financial planning process. External sales forecasts are based on
historical experience, statistical analysis, and consideration of various macroeconomic factors.

Sales-type lease

An arrangement whereby a firm leases its own equipment, such as IBM leasing its own
computers, thereby competing with an independent leasing company.

NET SALES (revenue)

The amount sold after customers’ returns, sales discounts, and other allowances are taken away from
gross sales. (Companies usually just show the net sales amount on their income statements, omitting returns, allowances, and the like.)

NUMBER OF DAYS SALES IN RECEIVABLES

(also called average collection period). The number of days of net sales that are tied up in credit sales (accounts receivable) that haven’t been collected yet.

RATIO OF NET INCOME TO NET SALES

A ratio that shows how much net income (profit) a company made on each dollar of net sales. Here’s the formula:
(Net income) / (Net sales)

RATIO OF NET SALES TO NET INCOME

A ratio that shows how much a company had to collect in net sales to make a dollar of profit. Figure it this way:
(Net sales) / (Net income)

Cost of sales

The manufacture or purchase price of goods sold in a period or the cost of providing a service.

Sales mix

The mix of product/services offered by the business, each of which may be aimed at different customers, with each product/service having different prices and costs.

Sales discounts

A contra account that offsets revenue. It represents the amount of the discounts for early payment allowed on sales.

Sales journal

A journal used to record the transactions that result in a credit to sales.

Sales returns

A contra account that offsets revenue. It represents the amount of sales made that were later returned.

return on sales

This ratio equals net income divided by sales revenue.

sales mix

the relative combination of quantities of sales of the various products that make up the total sales of a company

sales value at split-off allocation

a method of assigning joint cost to joint products that uses the relative sales values of the products at the split-off point as the proration basis; use of this method requires that all joint products
are salable at the split-off point

Gross sales

The total sales recorded prior to sales discounts and returns.

Net sales

Total revenue, less the cost of sales returns, allowances, and discounts.

Sales allowance

A reduction in a price that is allowed by the seller, due to a problem
with the sold product or service.

Sales discount

A reduction in the price of a product or service that is offered by the
seller in exchange for early payment by the buyer.

Sales value at split-off

A cost allocation methodology that allocates joint costs to joint
products in proportion to their relative sales values at the split-off point.

percentage of sales models

Planning model in which sales forecasts are the driving variables and most other variables are
proportional to sales.

Sales Tax

A tax levied as a percentage of retail sales.

Sales Revenue Revenue recognized from the sales of products as opposed to the provision of

services.

Sales-type Lease

Lease accounting used by a manufacturer who is also a lessor. Up-front gross
profit is recorded for the excess of the present value of the lease payments to be received across
a lease term over the cost to manufacture the leased equipment. Interest income also is recognized
on the lease receivable as it is earned over the lease term.

Accounts receivable turnover

The ratio of net credit sales to average accounts receivable, a measure of how
quickly customers pay their bills.

Administrative pricing rules

IRS rules used to allocate income on export sales to a foreign sales corporation.

Advance commitment

A promise to sell an asset before the seller has lined up purchase of the asset. This
seller can offset risk by purchasing a futures contract to fix the sales price.

After-tax profit margin

The ratio of net income to net sales.

Asset turnover

The ratio of net sales to total assets.

Average collection period, or days' receivables

The ratio of accounts receivables to sales, or the total
amount of credit extended per dollar of daily sales (average AR/sales * 365).

Back office

Brokerage house clerical operations that support, but do not include, the trading of stocks and
other securities. Includes all written confirmation and settlement of trades, record keeping and regulatory
compliance.
Back-end loan fund
A mutual fund that charges investors a fee to sell (redeem) shares, often ranging from
4% to 6%. Some back-end load funds impose a full commission if the shares are redeemed within a
designated time, such as one year. The commission decreases the longer the investor holds the shares. The
formal name for the back-end load is the contingent deferred sales charge, or CDSC.

Before-tax profit margin

The ratio of net income before taxes to net sales.

Break-even analysis

An analysis of the level of sales at which a project would make zero profit.

Budget

A detailed schedule of financial activity, such as an advertising budget, a sales budget, or a capital budget.

Capital gain

When a stock is sold for a profit, it's the difference between the net sales price of securities and
their net cost, or original basis. If a stock is sold below cost, the difference is a capital loss.

Clearing house / Clearinghouse

An adjunct to a futures exchange through which transactions executed its floor are settled by a
process of matching purchases and sales. A clearing organization is also charged with the proper conduct of
delivery procedures and the adequate financing of the entire operation.

Collection fractions

The percentage of a given month's sales collected during the month of sale and each
month following the month of sale.

Commodities Exchange Center (CEC)

The location of five New York futures exchanges: Commodity
Exchange, Inc. (COMEX), the New York Mercantile exchange (NYMEX), the New York Cotton Exchange,
the Coffee, Sugar and Cocoa exchange (CSC), and the New York futures exchange (NYFE). common size
statement A statement in which all items are expressed as a percentage of a base figure, useful for purposes of
analyzing trends and the changing relationship between financial statement items. For example, all items in
each year's income statement could be presented as a percentage of net sales.

Common-base-year analysis

The representing of accounting information over multiple years as percentages
of amounts in an initial year.
Common-size analysis The representing of balance sheet items as percentages of assets and of income
statement items as percentages of sales.

Dividend yield (Funds)

Indicated yield represents return on a share of a mutual fund held over the past 12
months. Assumes fund was purchased 1 year ago. Reflects effect of sales charges (at current rates), but not
redemption charges.

Fixed asset turnover ratio

The ratio of sales to fixed assets.

Gray market

Purchases and sales of eurobonds that occur before the issue price is finally set.

Gross profit margin

Gross profit divided by sales, which is equal to each sales dollar left over after paying
for the cost of goods sold.

Horizontal analysis

The process of dividing each expense item of a given year by the same expense item in
the base year. This allows for the exploration of changes in the relative importance of expense items over time
and the behavior of expense items as sales change.

Inventory turnover

The ratio of annual sales to average inventory which measures the speed that inventory
is produced and sold. Low turnover is an unhealthy sign, indicating excess stocks and/or poor sales.

Load fund

A mutual fund with shares sold at a price including a large sales charge -- typically 4% to 8% of
the net amount indicated. Some "no-load" funds have distribution fees permitted by article 12b-1 of the
Investment Company Act; these are typically 0. 25%. A "true no-load" fund has neither a sales charge nor
Freddie Mac program, the aggregation that the fund purchaser receives some investment advice or other
service worthy of the charge.

Market overhang

The theory that in certain situations, institutions wish to sell their shares but postpone the
share sales because large orders under current market conditions would drive down the share price and that
the consequent threat of securities sales will tend to retard the rate of share price appreciation. Support for this
theory is largely anecdotal.

Mutual fund

Mutual funds are pools of money that are managed by an investment company. They offer
investors a variety of goals, depending on the fund and its investment charter. Some funds, for example, seek
to generate income on a regular basis. Others seek to preserve an investor's money. Still others seek to invest
in companies that are growing at a rapid pace. Funds can impose a sales charge, or load, on investors when
they buy or sell shares. Many funds these days are no load and impose no sales charge. Mutual funds are
investment companies regulated by the Investment Company Act of 1940.
Related: open-end fund, closed-end fund.

Net asset value (NAV)

The value of a fund's investments. For a mutual fund, the net asset value per share
usually represents the fund's market price, subject to a possible sales or redemption charge. For a closed end
fund, the market price may vary significantly from the net asset value.

Net operating margin

The ratio of net operating income to net sales.

Net profit margin

Net income divided by sales; the amount of each sales dollar left over after all expenses
have been paid.

No load mutual fund

An open-end investment company, shares of which are sold without a sales charge.
There can be other distribution charges, however, such as Article 12B-1 fees. A true "no load" fund will have
neither a sales charge nor a distribution fee.

No-load fund

A mutual fund that does not impose a sales commission. Related: load fund

Open account

Arrangement whereby sales are made with no formal debt contract. The buyer signs a receipt,
and the seller records the sale in the sales ledger.

Operating profit margin

The ratio of operating margin to net sales.

Portfolio turnover rate

For an investment company, an annualized rate found by dividing the lesser of
purchases and sales by the average of portfolio assets.

Profit margin

Indicator of profitability. The ratio of earnings available to stockholders to net sales.
Determined by dividing net income by revenue for the same 12-month period. Result is shown as a
percentage.

Profitability ratios

Ratios that focus on the profitability of the firm. Profit margins measure performance
with relation to sales. Rate of return ratios measure performance relative to some measure of size of the
investment.

Receivables balance fractions

The percentage of a month's sales that remain uncollected (and part of
accounts receivable) at the end of succeeding months.

Return on assets (ROA)

Indicator of profitability. Determined by dividing net income for the past 12 months
by total average assets. Result is shown as a percentage. ROA can be decomposed into return on sales (net
income/sales) multiplied by asset utilization (sales/assets).

Sensitivity analysis

Analysis of the effect on a project's profitability due to changes in sales, cost, and so on.

Statement billing

Billing method in which the sales for a period such as a month (for which a customer also
receives invoices) are collected into a single statement and the customer must pay all of the invoices
represented on the statement.

Sterilized intervention

Foreign exchange market intervention in which the monetary authorities have
insulated their domestic money supplies from the foreign exchange transactions with offsetting sales or
purchases of domestic assets.

Total asset turnover

The ratio of net sales to total assets.

Total revenue

Total sales and other revenue for the period shown. Known as "turnover" in the UK.

Turnover

Mutual Funds: A measure of trading activity during the previous year, expressed as a percentage of
the average total assets of the fund. A turnover ratio of 25% means that the value of trades represented onefourth
of the assets of the fund. Finance: The number of times a given asset, such as inventory, is replaced
during the accounting period, usually a year. Corporate: The ratio of annual sales to net worth, representing
the extent to which a company can growth without outside capital. Markets: The volume of shares traded as a
percent of total shares listed during a specified period, usually a day or a year. Great Britain: total revenue.

12B-1 fees

The percent of a mutual fund's assets used to defray marketing and distribution expenses. The
amount of the fee is stated in the fund's prospectus. The SEC has recently proposed that 12B-1 fees in excess
of 0.25% be classed as a load. A true " no load" fund has neither a sales charge nor 12b-1 fee.

Vertical analysis

The process of dividing each expense item in the income statement of a given year by net
sales to identify expense items that rise faster or slower than a change in sales.

Working capital ratio

Working capital expressed as a percentage of sales.

ACCRUAL

A method of accounting in which you record expenses when you incur them and sales as you make them—not when you pay bills or receive checks in the mail.

GENERAL-AND-ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES

What was spent to run the non-sales and non-manufacturing part of a company, such as office salaries and interest paid on loans.

INCOME STATEMENT

An accounting statement that summarizes information about a company in the following format:
Net sales
– Cost of goods sold
--------------------
Gross profit
– Operating expenses
--------------------
Earnings before income tax
– Income tax
--------------------
= Net income or (Net loss)
Formally called a “consolidated earnings statement,” it covers a period of time such as a quarter or a year.

NET INCOME

The profit a company makes after cost of goods sold, expenses, and taxes are subtracted from net sales.

PROFIT

What’s left over after you subtract the cost of goods sold and all your expenses from sales.

SELLING EXPENSES

What was spent to run the sales part of a company, such as sales salaries, travel, meals, and lodging for salespeople, and advertising.

Cost of goods sold

See cost of sales.

Cost–volume–profit analysis (CVP)

A method for understanding the relationship between revenue, cost and sales volume.

Debtors

sales to customers who have bought goods or services on credit but who have not yet paid their debt.

Gross profit

The difference between the price at which goods or services are sold and the cost of sales.
Income The revenue generated from the sale of goods or services.

Product/service mix

See sales mix.

Throughput contribution

sales revenue less the cost of materials.

Transfer price

The price at which goods or services are bought and sold within divisions of the same organization, as opposed to an arm’s-length price at which sales may be made to an external customer.

Turnover

The business income or sales of goods and services.

Accounts receivable

Amounts owed to the company, generally for sales that it has made.

Gross profit

The result of subtracting cost of goods sold from sales. Synonymous with gross margin.

Revenue

Amounts earned by the company from the sale of merchandise or services; often used interchangeably with the term sales.

accounts receivable turnover ratio

A ratio computed by dividing annual
sales revenue by the year-end balance of accounts receivable. Technically
speaking, to calculate this ratio the amount of annual credit sales should
be divided by the average accounts receivable balance, but this information
is not readily available from external financial statements. For
reporting internally to managers, this ratio should be refined and finetuned
to be as accurate as possible.

accrual-basis accounting

Well, frankly, accrual is not a good descriptive
term. Perhaps the best way to begin is to mention that accrual-basis
accounting is much more than cash-basis accounting. Recording only the
cash receipts and cash disbursement of a business would be grossly
inadequate. A business has many assets other than cash, as well as
many liabilities, that must be recorded. Measuring profit for a period as
the difference between cash inflows from sales and cash outflows for
expenses would be wrong, and in fact is not allowed for most businesses
by the income tax law. For management, income tax, and financial
reporting purposes, a business needs a comprehensive record-keeping
system—one that recognizes, records, and reports all the assets and liabilities
of a business. This all-inclusive scope of financial record keeping
is referred to as accrual-basis accounting. Accrual-basis accounting
records sales revenue when sales are made (though cash is received
before or after the sales) and records expenses when costs are incurred
(though cash is paid before or after expenses are recorded). Established
financial reporting standards require that profit for a period
must be recorded using accrual-basis accounting methods. Also, these
authoritative standards require that in reporting its financial condition a
business must use accrual-basis accounting.

asset turnover ratio

A broad-gauge ratio computed by dividing annual
sales revenue by total assets. It is a rough measure of the sales-generating
power of assets. The idea is that assets are used to make sales, and the
sales should lead to profit. The ultimate test is not sales revenue on
assets, but the profit earned on assets as measured by the return on
assets (ROA) ratio.

bad debts

Refers to accounts receivable from credit sales to customers
that a business will not be able to collect (or not collect in full). In hindsight,
the business shouldn’t have extended credit to these particular
customers. Since these amounts owed to the business will not be collected,
they are written off. The accounts receivable asset account is
decreased by the estimated amount of uncollectible receivables, and the
bad debts expense account is increased this amount. These write-offs
can be done by the direct write-off method, which means that no
expense is recorded until specific accounts receivable are identified as
uncollectible. Or the allowance method can be used, which is based on
an estimated percent of bad debts from credit sales during the period.
Under this method, a contra asset account is created (called allowance
for bad debts) and the balance of this account is deducted from the
accounts receivable asset account.

breakeven point

The annual sales volume level at which total contribution
margin equals total annual fixed expenses. The breakeven point is only a
point of reference, not the goal of a business, of course. It is computed by
dividing total fixed expenses by unit margin. The breakeven point is
quite useful in analyzing profit behavior and operating leverage. Also, it
gives manager a good point of reference for setting sales goals and
understanding the consequences of incurring fixed costs for a period.

cash burn rate

A relatively recent term that refers to how fast a business
is using up its available cash, especially when its cash flow from operating
activities is negative instead of positive. This term most often refers
to a business struggling through its start-up or early phases that has not
yet generated enough cash inflow from sales to cover its cash outflow for
expenses (and perhaps never will).

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