Listed below are some of the business acronyms that we and other business related companies utilized. Acronyms are utilize to facilitate the transaction between SESCO and our valued customers. Click download to obtain a printable version of the Business Acronyms in Adobe Acrobat format is available for download. You need an Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the content of the file.

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O Q R S T U V W X Y Z

3 WAY MATCH Accounts payable system that enables processing of invoices scheduled for payment. The system matches quantity and unit cost on our purchase order with receiving document(s) and the vendor's invoice(s)

80M Branch Operations Manager - Individual responsible for management of all distribution related activities at a local SESCO branch

85M Branches Sales Manager -Individual responsible for all sales management, planning and execution at a local SESCO branch

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTDocument sent by suppliers to SESCO or by SESCO to customers that provides the details of orders and change orders (i.e. quantities, material, price, cash discount, transportation terms, FOB point and delivery schedule)

ACCOUNTING STAMP Standardized format on which you designate the accounts to be debited/ credited when an invoice/credit memo is booked

ANALYSIS # A sequential number used to reference a specific document (invoice, billback, debit, etc.) when booking a journal entry

AIR Accounts Receivable -Short term liquid assists that arise from sales on credit to customers

AR Appropriation Request -A request for authorization to spend funds (in excess of SR. 200) for capital expenses

BILL OF MATERIAL A list of material to be supplied for a project compiled by the customer, supplier or GE Supply

BILLBACK Term used to describe a situation where a branch charge back a supply for quantity/price discrepancies or for miscellaneous charges

BOOK INVENTORY Value at which inventory is carried on the General Ledger

BOOKED SALES REPORT A daily report which shows every sales-related transaction for a branch on a given day

BELLWETHER Information system that calculates the change in stock inventory acquisition prices from one year to another. This change (more commonly referred to as an index) is used for the annual FIFO -LIFO calculation

CASH DISCOUNT A deduction from the invoice price of goods that is granted if payment is made within a specified period of time

CLAIMS Disputed portion of a Receivable balance resulting in non-payment of invoice charges by a customer

COMMERCIAL CUSTOMERS Type of customer involved with businesses such as banking. Insurance, retailing and hotels. This type of customer uses electrical products primarily to maintain their facilities

CONTRACTORS Type of customer engaged in electrical construction of a new building or renovation of existing facilities

CONTRIBUTION MARGIN The excess of revenues after covering all variable costs related to a particular sales volume

COST CENTER Any organizational segment or area of activity for which there is reason to accumulate cost

COST CHANGE Change in inventory file cost value which is intended to keep file costing line with current acquisition cost

CHANGE ORDER A formal document that shows the changes made on the original Purchase Order. This includes changes to line item quantities, cost/price, cancellations etc.

COST OF SALES In sales transaction, Cost of Sales (CAS) is the balance sheet value of the inventory sold. Normally it is valued at acquisition cost

COST ONLY ENTRY An entry (manual or on-line) which affects only cost. These entries could be in the form of credit memos or billing documents and are used to correct the costs applied to sales transaction

COST VARIANCE The difference between the price charged by the supplier and our SIMS unit file cost. A negatives value is favorable

CPA Customer Pricing Agreement -An agreement by which a vendor agrees to rebate a negotiated amount for sales of specific products to specific customers

CREDIT MEMO A memorandum sent to notify its recipient (our customer) that SESCO has credit the accounts receivable balance of the recipient

CUT OFF DAY The final Thursday of each fiscal month (This date may vary in December). It signifies the last day to bill customers. Transactions after the cut off day will be processed in the following fiscal month

DEBIT MEMO A memorandum stating that a deduction was made, or requesting credit, issue to a vendor on a disputed transaction; or for returned material

DEFICIT Refers to a situation where the value of book inventory is higher than the value of inventory which is physically counted

DIRECT SHIPMENT Shipment made directly form the vendor to the customer's place of business or job site. The vendor bills SESCO and SESCO then bills the customer

ED&C Electrical Distribution and Control - GE business that manufactures circuit protective devices, distribution assemblies. switchgear, specialty transformers and general purposes control (GPC)

EDI Electronic Data Interchange - Computer to computer transfer of business documents (e.g., electronic billing or automatic transmission of purchase orders) between SESCO and our customers/vendors  

FIFO First In -First Out -An inventory costing method under which the costs of the first items purchased are assigned to the first items sold and the costs of the last items purchased are assigned to the items remaining in inventory

FISCAL CALENDAR The fiscal year is composed of 52 weeks, divided into four equal quarter of 13 weeks, with each quarter consisting of three fiscal months. At present, the first month of each quarter consists of five weeks while the tWo remaining fiscal months comprise four weeks each

FUNDS FLOW Measurement of generation or usage of cash in conducting business

GEFANUC Joint venture between General Electric, USA and FANUC of Japan. Located in Charlottesville. VA, they manufacture and sell programmable logic controls (PLC)

GE LIGHTING GE business that manufactures and sells lamps lighting systems (LSD) and wiring devices (WD)

GE MOTORS GE business that manufactures and sells motors, both fractional and integral horsepower

GENERAL LEDGER An accounting term for all of the financial statement accounts of a business. This includes balance sheet and income statement accounts

GPC General Purpose Control - Designation given to GE products which include motors controls, push buttons, relays, limits switches, etc. - part of ED & C

HOLDS & TAG A type of order where customer requires all the items on the purchase order shipped at the same time. As items are received they are set aside in a holding area. A shipping document (SHIPSET) is generated once all of the material is available and the order due date is approaching

IA Inventory Adjustment -Adjustment made to SIMS which comes about as a result of returned material

IBS Internal Billing System -Billing system which mechanically processes billing between SESCO Branches

INDUSTRIAL CUSTOMER A broad classification - customers involved in the manufacturing and as well as OEMS

LIFO Last In -First Out -An inventory costing method under which the cost of the last items purchased are assigned to the first items sold and cost of inventory is composed of the cost if items from the oldest purchases

LOT PRICE (OR LUMP SUM) On price for an entire bill of material rather than unit prices

LPO Local Purchase Order -Purchase order placed on a local vendor by the branch rather than the purchasing organization to satisfy a customer's requirements for material needed on an emergency basis

MARGIN A measure of profitability which is calculated at various levels but is generally used to refer to the difference between revenue from sales and cost of goods sold (gross margin)

MARKET REPORTING SYSTEM System to record and report sales transactions generated in SIMS

MIA Miscellaneous Inventory Adjustment -entry made to restate inventory balances as the result of test counts, damage, receiving errors or other quantity variances

MRO Maintenance, Repair and Operating - Items purchased for use by industrial customers but not included in the products they manufacture

OEM Original Equipment Manufacturer - Industrial entities who buy products which are incorporated into equipment they manufacture

OPEN RECEIVER Refers to material into SIMS as received but which has not yet been matched to a vendor invoice

ORO Office Records Only -A term used to refer to a cost only entry, indicating that no documentation need be sent to the customer as only SESCO accounts are involved

PAY BACK The process of returning funds to a vendor which had been previously deducted on a debit memo

PERPETUAL INVENTORY A method of accounting for inventory under which the sales and purchases of each individual items are recorded continuously. This provides on-hand inventory balances and determines cost of goods sold without taking a physical inventory. An annual physical inventory is usually taken to reconcile the perpetual inventory

PLC Programmable Logic control -Items manufactured and sold by GE FANUC

PRE/POST INVENTORY A designation which indicates whether a transaction should affect the general ledger inventory balance prior to or after physical inventory

PROJECT A project is a customer order that usually anticipates multiple delivarables (i.e. material and manuals) for more than one supplier. requires a submittal and customer approval procedure with multiple release dates over an extended period of time and/or may be priced on a lump sum basis

PURCHASE ORDER A business form that is sent to a vendor as a written order for the purchase of goods or services

PURCHASE VARIANCE Measurement of difference between vendor pricing and inventory file cost for stock purchases. A negative Purchase Variance is favorable, meaning that we bought below file cost

RECONCILE To explain or account for the difference between two amounts

RGA/RMA Returned Goods/Material Authorization -Authorization for a customer to return material to the  seller

ROI Return On Investment -Relationship of net income to average investment. May be calculated before or after taxes