Bad debts Money owed to you that you can’t collect.

Bad faith An unspoken attitude on the part of one or more parties to a negotiation, that there is no need to negotiate seriously or to live up to any agreement made.

Bait and switch An illegal selling technique. A “special” is advertised, but “sold out” when the customer appears. The advertiser hopes the customer will buy something else.

Balance The amount of money remaining in an account. The total of your money in the bank after accounting for all transactions (deposits and withdrawals) is called a balance.
Balance sheet An itemized statement which lists the total assets and total liabilities of a given business, to portray its net worth at a given moment in time.

Bank of Canada The agency of the federal government through which it implements and manages its money policies. It lends money only to the chartered banks and to a few recognized dealers in government securities.

Bank rate The rate of interest charged by the Bank of Canada to chartered banks, thus generally passed on to all financial institutions. Referred to as the prime rate.

Bankruptcy The financial and legal position of a person or corporation unable to pay debts. A legal bankrupt must transfer control of any remaining assets to a Trustee in Bankruptcy. Governed by the federal Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act.

Bargaining unit Any group of employees recognized as an acceptable party to labour-management negotiation under federal or provincial labour law.

BDC See Business Development Bank of Canada.

Board of directors Representatives elected by the shareholders to direct the affairs of a company.

Bonded area Warehouse, etc. An area on the soil of any nation within which goods may be kept without payment of duty, sales or excise tax. Taxes are payable only when the goods are moved from the bonded area.

Bonded carrier A commercial shipper, such as a truck or airline, that may bring goods into the country with import requirements being met at the final destination rather than at a border crossing.

Book debts A banking term for trade debts or receivables. Frequently assigned to the bank as security for an operating line of credit.

Book value See Net worth.

Bookkeeping system A way of organizing and recording all the financial transactions of a business to ensure that everything is properly accounted for.

Breakup value The estimated value of a business after its operations are stopped and the assets sold and the liabilities paid off. Usually less than the “going concern” value.

Bridge loan A short-term loan to cover the purchase or construction of an asset until permanent financing, frequently a previously arranged mortgage loan, can be placed against the completed asset.

Broker Anyone who brings a potential buyer and a potential seller together, in return for a fee or commission charged to one, the other, or both; e.g., business, franchise, insurance.

Browser A program you can use to travel through the World Wide Web. The most popular Web browsers are Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Explorer.

Budgeting A basic tool of financial planning that shows revenues and/or expenses that are planned for the coming period.

Business The production of goods or services for profit. Such activity can be carried out by an individual, a family, a partnership, or an incorporated company.

Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) A federal government Crown corporation providing a full range of services to encourage successful small and medium business management in Canada.

Business expense An expense of producing and/or selling a product, which can be deducted from gross income to arrive at net income for taxation purposes.

Business GNP The segment of Gross National Product (the dollar value of total goods and services a country produces) produced by business corporations, excluding the segments produced by government and chartered banks.

Business plan The overall map of what you intend to do in your business, how you intend to do it, and how you will measure the results.

Buy-sell agreement See Shotgun agreement.

Byte One byte is equivalent to eight bits. Each character, such as a digit or letter, takes one byte in digital form.