An original design or working model of something, often used in demonstrations.

The origins and history/development/movement of a created work (originally referring to art work, but now extending to any created work, such as writings, computer programs, etc) such as to provide record and evidence of the creator, reliability, ownership, adaptation, etc., of the work, thereby demonstrating or supporting the work’s authenticity and quality. The term is […]

A form of retirement savings. An employer and employee pay regular, usually equal, amounts into an investment fund, which is then paid to the employee upon retirement, often in a lump sum.

A clause in a contract which makes a condition or stipulation.

A person who has been given the authority to act for another person, e.g., a proxy can vote on behalf of a shareholder.

Aside from its usual general meaning of carefulness in judgment and decision making, prudence particularly refers to caution in commercial/financial/economic risk taking, and to the typically great caution exercised by financial folk (accountants and bankers notably) in planning, budgeting, forecasting, granting loans, extending credit, defining standards and policies, and accounting practice as a whole, etc.

A term attributed to ‘showbusinessman’ Alan Sugar, which refers to revenues which come into a business and are lost very quickly and unavoidably as costs, and so do very little if anything to actually improve trading profits. Sugar used this term referring to the vast TV revenues paid to top soccer clubs, which flushes through […]

Pronounced ‘sudo’, this is a prefix which can be put before many different words to represent a fake or false quality which often attempts to imitate or behave as the real thing. From Greek pseudos, meaning falsehood.

a false name, commonly adopted by a writer seeking to hide their true identity.

The process of identifying and dividing consumers into groups according to their interests, attitudes, social class, values, personality, etc.