M
Auditing Terms - MChicago Mercantile Exchange (MERC) - (exchange trading futures and options)
Madrid Interbank Offered Rate (MIBOR) - (rate for large loans to banking institutions)
Madrid Stock Exchange (MSE) - (Bolsa de Madrid)
maintenance out of service (MOS) -
Malaysia Commodity Exchange (MCE) -
Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) - (regulatory body for accounting and auditing)
Malaysian Institute of Certified Public Accountants (MICPA) - (professional accounting organization)
Management Advisory Services (MAS) - (consulting services performed by CPA firms in areas other than auditing)
Management Advisory Services Executive Committee (MASEC) -
Management By Objective (MBO) - (system of performance appraisal using short-term targets and periodic reviews)
Management Buyout (MBO) - (purchase of all of a company's publicly-held shares by existing management, taking company private)
management expense ratio (MER) - (mutual fund accounting - operating costs as a percentage of net assets)
Management Information System (MIS) - (computer-based or manual system used for collecting, processing, and reporting data in a manner useful for decision-making)
Management of Risk framework (M_o_R) - (strategy for dealing with risk to an organization)
mandatory access control (MAC) - (model/framework where users meeting specific, assigned criteria are given access - military, classified systems)
manufacturing accounting and production (MAP) - (integrated manufacturing system model)
manufacturing overhead applied journal (MOAJ) -
Manufacturing Resources Planning (MRP) - (integrated system designed to synchronize all aspects of business operations, not just production)
margin of safety (M/S) - (excess of current sales over breakeven sales)
marginal cost (MC) - (increase of decrease in cost as the result of producing one additional unit)
marginal loss (ML) -
Marginal Efficiency of Capital (MEC) - (annual percentage yield earned by the last additional unit of capital)
marginal revenue (MR) - (extra revenue from selling or producing one additional unit of product)
Market Index Target Term Securities (MITTS) - (debt securities guaranteeing the original investment plus appreciation at maturity)
Market Information Data Access System (MIDAS) - (Nasdaq online system)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) -
Master of Business Administration (MBA) - (advanced degree, generally requiring two years of study beyond a bachelor's degree, which focuses on organizational management skills)
Master Limited Partnership (MLP) - (publicly-traded partnership which provided favorable tax treatment for investors until 1987, when was treated as a corporation)
Material Requirements Planning/Processing (MRP) - (computer-based system designed to handle ordering and scheduling of inventory materials purchases as part of the production process)
material usage variance (MUV) - (difference between quantities of raw materials used and quantities that should be used)
materials price variance (MPV) - (difference between price actually paid for raw materials and those that should have been paid at standard prices)
materials returned journal (MRJ) -
maximum foreseeable loss (MFL) - (maximum dollar amount which can be lost if a catastrophe occurs)
mean-per-unit estimation (MPU) - (audit sampling technique focusing on the average audited value of items in the sample)
mean time between failures (MTBF) - (how long a service is operational before it might fail)
mean time between service incidents (MTBSI) - (how long a service/component can perform without interruption)
mean time to repair (MTTR) - (how long it takes to restore service)
mean time to restore service (MTRS) - (how quickly service can be restored to normal)
media access control (MAC) - (permanent hardware address identifier burned into a network interface card (NIC) when it is manufactured)
Medical Savings Account (MSA) -
medium-term note (MTN) -
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives (MHR) -
Memorandum of Audit (MOA) -
Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) - (Process of combining two or more companies, either through a merger or an acquisition.)
message authentication code (MAC) - (verification mechanism using encryption keys)
metropolitan-area network (MAN) - (network interconnections within a metropolitan area)
Mexican Stock Exchange (MSE) -
minimum lease payment (MLP) - (regular rental payments in a capital lease)
Minimum Lending Rate (MLR) -
Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System (MACRS) - (accelerated depreciation method)
Modified Internal Rate of Return (MIRR) - (internal rate of return adjusted for negative cash flows)
modulator/demodulator (MODEM) - (device that encodes data for transmission over a particular medium)
monetary unit sampling (MUS) - (also known as dollar-unit sampling) (audit sampling technique which defines the sampling unit as an individual dollar - larger recorded transactions are more likely to be chosen for sampling because they have more dollar units)
money order (MO) - (financial instrument that can be easily converted into cash by the payee)
money unit accounting (MUA) - (constant dollar accounting)
Monthly Income Preferred Securities (MIPS) - (hybrid income-preferred stock traded as securities which make cumulative monthly payments)
Montreal Exchange (MX) -
Mortgage-Backed Security (MBS) - (certificate/security backed by mortgages)
Mortgage-Backed Securities Clearing Corporation (MBSCC) - (SEC-registered company providing services to the mortgage-backed securities market)
Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange (MICEX) - (Russian currency/financial exchange)
Most Favored Nation (MFN) - (treaty terms/regulations granting certain nations favorable tariff rates)
most recent quarter (MRQ) -
Moving Average Convergence/Divergence (MACD) - (method of valuing stocks/analyzing market trends)
Multinational Corporation (MNC) - (corporation that has production facilities/fixed assets in at least one foreign country and makes management decisions in a global context)
Multinational Enterprise (MNE) - (alternative term for multinational corporation)
multiple discriminant analysis (MDA) - (statistical technique used to evaluate financial ratios)
Municipal Bond Acceptance and Reconciliation Service (MBARS) -
Municipal Bond Investors Assurance Corporation (MBIA) - (Corporate insurer guaranteeing municipal bonds in the event of default)
Municipal Finance Officers Association (MFOA) - (organization of financial officers working for cities/municipalities)
Municipal Investment Trust (MIT) - (trust fund which buys municipal bonds and passes tax-free income on to shareholders)
Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) - (self-regulatory organization regulating dealers in municipal securities)
Municipal Security (MUNI) - (usually municipal bonds - debt obligations of a state or local government)
municipal utility district (MUD) - (local political subdivision providing utility-related services)
Mutual Savings Bank (MSB) - (savings bank organized under state charter for the ownership and benefit of its depositors)