Finance jargon hides in plain sight because so much of it is technically precise. "EBITDA" really does mean something specific. The trouble starts when the precise terms get borrowed to make ordinary decisions sound inevitable, or when soft phrases like "rightsizing" do the heavy lifting in a hard quarter.
The phrases below show up in board decks, budget reviews, and the all-hands where someone explains the runway. Some are real terms of art worth knowing exactly. Others are euphemisms worth translating immediately. This guide separates the two.
The worst offenders
- Accretive (Executive) "Accretive" describes a deal or acquisition that increases a company's earnings per share, making it financially additive rather than dilutive.
- Dilutive (Executive) "Dilutive" means a transaction or deal that reduces earnings per share or an existing investor's ownership percentage in a company.
- Haircut (Managing Director) "Haircut" means a reduction in the value or price of an asset, loan, or payment, typically used in financial contexts.
- Belt-tightening (Managing Director) "Belt-tightening" means cutting costs or reducing spending, framed as a shared sacrifice even when the cuts fall unevenly across an organization.
- Capex (Managing Director) "Capex" is short for capital expenditure, meaning large one-time investments in physical or long-term assets like equipment or infrastructure.
- Cost center (Managing Director) "Cost center" means a department that spends company money but does not directly generate revenue, such as IT, HR, or legal.
The full Finance & Corporate Jargon glossary
All 26 terms in this category, with the plain-English swap. Click any phrase for the full breakdown, the seniority tier, and a before-and-after example.
| Phrase | Say instead |
|---|---|
| Accretive | earnings-boosting |
| Bean counter | finance person |
| Belt-tightening | cost cutting |
| Bottom line | profit |
| Burn | cash lost |
| Capex | capital spending |
| Cash flow positive | bringing in more than we spend |
| Cost center | non-revenue team |
| Cost-benefit | tradeoff analysis |
| Dilutive | earnings-reducing |
| Drive efficiencies | cut costs |
| EBITDA | operating profit |
| Efficiencies | savings |
| Guidance | forecast |
| Haircut | a markdown |
| Headcount | number of staff |
| In the black | profitable |
| In the red | losing money |
| Material | significant |
| Opex | operating costs |
| Pull forward | move up |
| Run rate | projected annual pace |
| Streamline | simplify |
| Tighten our belts | cut costs |
| Top line | revenue |
| Unit economics | per-sale profitability |
This is the editorial cut. For the bare index, see the Finance & Corporate Jargon category page.