P

partnership: A legal business relationship of two or more people who share responsibilities, resources, profits and liabilities.  

passive investment management: the managing of a mutual fund or other investment portfolio by relying on automatic adjustments such as indexation instead of making personal judgments.  

patent: a type of copyright granted as a fixed-term monopoly to an inventor by the state to prevent others copying an invention, or improvement  of a product or process.

payable: Ready to be paid. One of the standard accounts kept by a book­keeper is "accounts payable." This is a list of those bills that are current and due to be paid.  

payment gateway: a company or organization that provides an interface between merchant's point-of-sale system, acquirer payment systems, and issuer payment systems.  

payment-in-kind: an alternative form of pay given to employees in place of monetary reward but considered to be of equivalent value. A payment in kind take the form of a car, purchase of goods at cost price, or other nonfinancial exchange that benefits an employee.

Pay Pal : a Web based service that enables Internet users to send and receive payments electronically. To open a Pay Pal account, users register and provide their credit card details. When they decide to make a transaction via Pay Pal, their card is charged for the transfer.

perception: The process of selecting, organizing and interpreting infor­mation received through the senses.  

perfomance appraisal: a face-to-face discussion in which one employee's work is discussed, reviewed, and appraised by another, using an agreed and understood framework.

petty cash: a small store of cash used for minor business expenses.

phantom income: income that is subject to tax even though the recipient never actually gets control of it, for example, income from a limited partnership. 

pink slip: get your pink slip to be dismissed from employment

piracy: illegal copying of a product such as software or music.

placement fee: a fee that a stockbroker receives for a sale of shares.

planning: the process of setting objectives, or goals, and formulating policies, strategies, and procedures to meet them.

poaching: the practice of recruiting people from other companies by offering inducements.

point of purchase: the place at which a product is purchased by the customer. The point of sale can be a retail outlet, a display case, or even a  legal business relationship of two or more people who share responsibilities, resources, profits and liabilities.

postdate: to put a later date on a document or check than the date when it is signed, with the effect that it is not valid until the later date.

prebilling: the practice of submitting a bill for a product or service before it has actually been delivered.

prepaid expenses: Expenditures that are paid in advance for items not yet received.  

prepaid interest: interest paid in advance of its due date.

prepayment penalty: a charge that may be levied against somebody who makes a payment before its due date. The penalty compensates the lender or seller for potential lost interest.

price: The exchange value of a product or service from the perspective of both the buyer and the seller.

price ceiling: The highest amount a customer will pay for a product or a service based upon perceived value.  

price control: government regulations that set maximum prices for commodities or control price levels by credit controls.

price discrimination: the practice of selling of the same product to different buyers at different prices.

price floor: The lowest amount a business owner can charge for a prod­uct or service and still meet all expenses.

price planning: The systematic process for establishing pricing objec­tives and policies.  

price war: a situation in which two or more companies each try to increase their own share of the market by lowering prices.

principal: The amount of money borrowed in a debt agreement and the amount upon which interest is calculated.  

probability: the quantitative measure of the likelihood that a given event will occur.

probation: a trial period in the first months of employment when the employer checks the suitability and capability of a person in a certain role, and takes any corrective action. 

producers: The components of the organizational market that acquire products, services that enter into the production of products and services that are sold or supplied to others.

product: Anything capable of satisfying needs, including tangible items, services and ideas.

Product life cycle (PLC): The stages of development and decline through which a successful product typically moves.

product line: A group of products related to each other by marketing, technical or end-use considerations.

product mix: All of the products in a seller's total product line.

Profit and Loss Statement: A list of the total amount of sales (rev­enues) and total costs (expenses). The difference between revenues and expenses is your profit or loss.

profit: Financial gain, returns over expenditures.

profit margin: The difference between your selling price and all of your costs.  

pro-forma: A projection or estimate of what may result in the future from actions in the present. A pro forma financial statement is one that shows how the actual operations of the business will turn out if certain assumptions are achieved.; a document issued before all relevant details are known, usually followed by a final version.

pro-forma invoice: an invoice that does not include all the details of a transaction, often sent before goods are supplied and followed by a final detailed invoice.

promotion: The communication of information by a seller to influence the attitudes and behavior of potential buyers.

promotional pricing: Temporarily pricing a product or service below list price or below cost in order to attract customers.

psychographics: The system of explaining market behavior in terms of attitudes and life styles.

publicity: Any non-paid, news-oriented presentation of a product, ser­vice or business entity in a mass media format.