The Handbook of Global Corporate Treasury

Glossary

Account Structure The organisation of accounts within the group, in terms of type of accounts, currencies, ownership, and location.

ACH (Automated Clearinghouse) Electronic network for financial transactions, generally riding on the real-time gross settlement (RTGS) network and coordinated by the central bank, that process large volumes of credit and debit transactions in batches.

ACH Credit Transaction An automated clearinghouse transaction that sends funds from a payer’s (originator’s) account to a beneficiary account.

ACH Debit Transaction An automated clearinghouse transaction that pulls funds to the beneficiary (originator)’s account from the payer’s account.

Acquirer or Card Acquiring Bank The bank that buys credit card transactions with recourse from a merchant and will pay the merchant and settle the transaction with the card issuing bank (the merchant’s bank).

Advising Bank The bank that advises the beneficiary (exporter or seller) of a letter of credit (LC) opened in its favour.

Alpha Measure of performance on a risk-adjusted risk.

ANI (Adjusted Net Income) Method Method of cash budgeting in which cash flow is determined indirectly by adjusting the net income on cash.

AP (Accounts Payable) The amount that a company owes its trade creditors.

AR (Accounts Receivable) Assets resulting from the extension of trade credit to a company’s customers.

Arbitrage The process of purchasing an asset or security and simultaneously selling it in another market through direct ...