P
Auditing Terms - PPacific Exchange (PCX) - (San Francisco-based stock options exchange)
package-enabled reengineering (PER) - (packaged business software system that allows an organization to automate and integrate the majority of its business processes, share data, and access information)
Packet Assembler/Disassembler (PAD) - (data transmission process of converting data into packet form for transmission and converting packet information back into data at the receiving end)
paid time off (PTO) -
paper profit (PP) - (pre-tax accounting income)
Paris Interbank Offer Rate (PIBOR) - (rate banks charge other financial institutions for large loans)
participating equity preferred stock (PEPS) -
participation certificate (PC) - (certificate representing an interest in a pool of funds, or in other instruments)
Passive Activity Loss (PAL) - (loss produced by passive investment activities)
Passive Income Generator (PIG) - (investment whose main activity produces passive income)
past service pension adjustment (PSPA) - (pension benefit granted to an employee for past service)
pay as you earn (PAYE) - (income tax withholding (UK))
Pay on Delivery (POD) -
Pay on Return (POR) -
payback period (PP) - (time period required to recover the original cost of an investment)
payment by result (PBR) -
Payment-In-Kind (PIK) - (payment for goods and services made in the form of other goods and services, rather than cash or other forms of money)
payroll (PR) - (total wages and salaries and other payments made in a particular payroll period)
Peer Review Committee (PRC) - (AICPA committee which evaluates and reviews CPA firms)
pension adjustment (PA) -
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC)- (federal corporation set up to guarantee basic pension benefits)
periodic lease payment (PLP) - (fair market value of leased property in excess of present value)
permanent virtual circuit (PVC) - (wide area network (WAN) technology which programs a customer connection in advance)
perpetual inventory (PI) - (system of inventory control that regularly/continuously updates inventory quantities, instead of an annual inventory count)
Personal Area Network (PAN) - (a microcomputer network used for communications among computer device being used by an individual person)
personal computer/microcomputer (PC) - (small computer system or workstation, designed for an individual user, inexpensively priced, and based on microprocessor technology)
personal equity plan (PEP) -
personal financial planning (PFP) -
personal holding company (PHC) -
personal identification number (PIN) - (a type of password - secret number assigned to an individual - that serves to verify the authenticity of the individual)
Personal Liability Umbrella Security Plan (PLUS) - (AICPA member insurance)
petty cash (PC) - (fund/account used to pay for small, occasional items - office supplies)
petty cash book (PCB) -
Philadelphia Automated Communication and Execution System (PACE) - (Philadelphia Stock Exchange - electronic order entry system)
Philadelphia Board of Trade (PBOT) - (futures trading exchange)
Philadelphia Stock Exchange (PHLX) - (first organized stock exchange in the U.S.)
Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA) - (Philippine professional accounting and external auditing organization)
Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) -
Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) - (conventional telephone landline system of analog voice transmission)
Plan-Do-Check Act Cycle (PDCA) - (approach to continuous improvement management involving planning, small-scale implementation, analysis, and full implementation)
Planned Amortization Class bond (PAC) - (collateralized mortgage obligations with a sinking fund payment schedule)
Platform Configuration Register (PCR) - (computer memory area used to store cryptographic hashes of data)
Platform for Internet Content Selection (PICS) - (specifications for meta tags that label web sites with their content ratings)
plus commissions (PC) - (brokerage term for including commissions in stock purchases and sales)
Point-of-Sale system (POS) - (system that uses a computer terminal located at the point of sale transaction so that the data can be captured immediately by the computer system)
Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) - (protocol used for transmitting data between two ends of a connection)
Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet (PPPoE) - (use of a modem connection to a digital subscriber line (DSL) in a residential or business wide area network to connect to the Internet through a service provider)
Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) - (protocol used to implement a virtual private network between two computers)
Political Risk Insurance (PRI) - (coverage for business firms operating abroad to insure them against loss due to political upheavals - war, revolution, nationalization)
polyvinyl chloride (PVC) - (chemical compound used for cable insulation)
Port of Embarkation (POE) -
Port of Entry (POE) -
potential capital gains exposure (PCGE) -
Power of Attorney (PA) (POA) - (written document authorizing another person to act on behalf of the signer)
preauthorized checks (PAC) - (preauthorized payment - prearranged payments/deductions from a bank account for the payment of a third party)
Preauthorized Electronic Debits (PAD) - (preauthorized payment - prearranged payments/deductions from a bank account for the payment of a third party)
Preferred Equity Redemption Cumulative Stock (PERCS) - (form of preferred stock that allows common shareholders to exchange common stock for preferred shares)
Preferred Stock (PFD) - (class of capital stock that pays dividends at a specified rate - normally without voting rights)
prepared by the client (PBC) -
present net worth (PNW) - (company's total assets in excess of total liabilities)
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present value (PV) - (value today of a payment, or series of payments, to be made in the future, at a given interest rate)
price-to-book ratio (PBR) - (ratio of a stock's price to its book value per share)
price-to-cash flow ratio (PC) - (market capitalization divided by net earnings plus noncash charges, or market price per share divided by cash flow per share)
price/cash flow ratio (PCF) - (market value per share divided by the cash flow per share)
price earnings ratio (PE) - (price of a stock divided by its basic earnings per share)
price earnings ratio (PER) - (market price per share divided by its basic earnings per share)
price list (PL) -
price to sales ratio (PS) (PSR) - (ratio of a stock's price to its per-share sales)
prime cost (PC) - (direct materials and direct labor plus direct overhead)
principal exchange-rate-linked securities (PERLS) - (debt instrument denominated in U.S. dollars but with principal repayment linked to the performance of the U.S. dollar against a foreign currency)
principal and interest (P&I) - (payment on bonds or mortgage-backed securities)
principal, interest, taxes, and insurance (PITI) - (primary components of monthly mortgage payments)
Principal Only (PO) -
Prior Preferred Stock (PPS) - (preferred stock with a higher claim than other issues of preferred stock on dividends and assets)
prior service cost (PSC) - (estimated cost of prospective retirement benefits considered to have accrued in the years before the adoption of a pension plan)
private branch exchange (PBX) - (a telephone exchange (computer-based switch) that acts as a small, in-house phone company for the business that operates it)
Private Companies Practice Section (PCPS) - (division of the AICPA for CPA firms serving nonpublic companies)
Private Company Council (PCC) - (body created to establish alternatives to GAAP for private entities)
Private Export Funding Corporation (PEFCO) - (trade finance corporation owned by a consortium that arranges loans to foreign buyers)
Private Market Value (PMV) - (aggregate market value of a company if each of its parts operated independently and had its own stock price)
Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) - (type of insurance available from lenders that insures against loss resulting from default on a mortgage loan)
private health service plan (PHSP) -
Private Investment in Public Equity Securities (PIPES) - (investment by private investors in stocks)
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PSLRA) - (law discouraging frivolous class-action lawsuits and limiting attorneys' fees)
Pro Forma (PF) - (statement or report based on the results if a hypothetical event had happened in the past)
probability proportional to size (PPS) - (audit sampling technique in which the probability of selecting any individual population item is proportional to its recorded dollar amount)
probable maximum loss (PML) - (maximum f(ore)seeable loss - the maximum amount that could be lost under a realistic situation)
process identification (PID) - (value/number/name assigned to a program operation process for system identification)
Producer Price Index (PPI) - (measurement of the change in wholesale prices - U.B. Bureau of Labor Statistics report)
professional corporation (PC) -
Professional Practices Framework (PPF) - (framework for internal auditing established by the Institute of Internal Auditors)
Profit and Loss (Statement) (P&L) - (financial report showing income and expenses)
profit-volume chart (PV Chart) - (chart that determines how profits vary with changes in volume)
program change request (PCR) - (formal user request/submission for changes to be made to a software program or system)
Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) - (management tool for planning, coordinating, and controlling large, complex projects)
Program-Planning-Budgeting System (PPBS) - (planning-oriented approach to developing a program budget)
programmable logic controller (PLC) - (computers designed to control electromechanical/industrial processes - assembly lines, industrial plants, steel mills, elevators)
programmable read-only memory (PROM) - (a form of read-only memory (ROM) chip that can be programmed one time because the memory cell become fused during the programming)
project initiation document (PID) - (written authorization to begin a project)
Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) - (collection of the knowledge and best practices of the project management profession)
Project Management Institute (PMI) - (nonprofit international organization of project managers that promotes the field of project management)
Project Note (PN) - (short-term debt issue of a municipal agency, usually a housing authority, to finance the construction of public housing)
project request document (PRD) - (written authorization/request to begin a project)
Projected Benefit Obligation (PBO) - (estimated liability of a pension plan)
Promissory Note (PN) - (written promise to pay a specified amount of money)
Proof of Concept (POC) - (documentation, test results, and prototyping needed to show that an acquisition/vendor submission fulfills the project procurement requirements)
Proof of Possession (POP) - (In the area of cyber security, verification that a subject possesses a private key being registered with a certificate authority and that it matches the public key requested for a certificate)
property, plant and equipment (PP&E) - (long-lived fixed productive assets used in operational or administrative activities)
prospective earnings growth ratio (PEG) - (projected one-year annual growth rate for a company)
Public Accountant (PA) - (individual licensed by a state, performing professional accounting services for the public)
public accounting (PA) - (independent auditing and reporting on financial statements)
purchase commitment (PC) -
Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) - (private-sector nonprofit corporation created by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 to oversee the auditors of public companies)
public data network (PDN) - (network available for public use for communications)
public employee retirement system (PERS) -
public key infrastructure (PKI) - (a series of processes and technologies for the association of cryptographic keys with the entity they were issued to)
Public Liability Company (PLC) - (limited company that offers shares or securities to the public - British equivalent to incorporation in the United States)
Public Limited Company (PLC) - (British)
Public Oversight Board (POB) - (group consisting mostly of nonaccountants that oversees activities of CPA firms belonging to the AICPA's SEC practice section)
public relations (PR) - (department or field of commmunications dealing with the public and concerned with promoting or preserving the image of an organization)
Public Securities Association (PSA) - (former name of The Bond Market Association (TBMA) - nonprofit corporation representing the bond industry)
public switched telephone network (PSTN) - (worldwide telephony network consisting of multiple telephone carriers)
Public Utilities Commission (PUC) -
Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 (PUHCA) - (federal legislation regulating gas and electric utility companies)
publicly traded partnership (PTP) - (partnership which sells shares, like a corporation, which can be traded on an exchange - master limited partnership)
purchase journal (PJ) - (journal for recording purchases of goods on account)
purchase ledger (PL) - (ledger that contains the accounts of customers)
purchase order (PO) - (Form used by a purchasing department to order goods or merchandise.)
purchase requisition (PR) - (document used by a user department to request the acquisition of goods or services)
purchase returns journal (PRJ) - (journal recording goods returned to suppliers)
Purchase and Sale Statement (P&S) -
Purchasing Agent (PA) - (individual who buys materials/supplies on behalf of an organization)
Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) - (measure of the comparative value of the dollar/money - purchasing power - as impacted by inflation)
purchasing power unit (PuPU) - (unit of measure for currency related to comparative purchasing power over time - how much/many items can be bought for a given dollar amount compared to that at a different time)
pure trust organization (PTO) -
Put and Call (PAC) - (options market)