For all those ESL learners who use English for business purposes here are some important abbreviations for you to know. This is not a list of all business-related abbreviations (that list would be too long), but these are some of the most important abbreviations in my opinion. If you know any abbreviations that I should add to this list let me know by posting comment below.

Business English abbreviations:

AP – Accounts Payable – payments owed by a company to a supplier or creditor

CEO – Chief Executive Officer – the top most executive in a for-profit organization or business

CFO – Chief Financial Officer – the person primarily responsible for managing the financial risks of a business or corporation

CIO – Chief Investment Officer – the person responsible for a company’s investment portfolio by managing and monitoring all business investment activity

COO – Chief Operating Officer – the person who oversees ongoing business operations within a business or company; the COO reports to the CEO and is usually second-in-command at a company

FIFO – First In First Out – an asset-management method that involves using assets that are acquired first before assets that acquired later (or second)

HR – Human Resources – a person (or department) that is responsible for administration, hiring, and training all the people employed in a company

HQ – headquarters – the building that is the main administrative center of an organization; often the place where the top most people in a company work

K – an abbreviation for 1,000; for example, $350K is the same as $350,000

LLC – Limited Liability Company – a company that is set up so that members of the company cannot be held personally liable or responsible for company debt if the company has financial problems

MBA – Master’s of Business Administration – a graduate degree in business

MOQ – Minimum Order Quantity – the minimum amount that can be ordered of a particular product that a company sells

NAV – Net Asset Value – the value of a business’ assets minus the value of its liabilities

NYSE – New York Stock Exchange – the world’s largest stock exchange located in New York City on Wall street

PR – Public Relations – a person (or a department) that spreads information about a business or company and answers questions about the company

P&L – Profit and Loss – a financial statement that summarizes the revenues, costs, and expenses that a company has during a specific period of time, often a quarter (1/4 of a year)

R&D – Research and Development – a department in a business that conducts research into making or developing new products

ROI  – Return on Investment – a financial term that refers to a number that a business looks at to see if an investment will be profitable

USP – Unique Selling Proposition – this refers to the unique qualities of a product that make it something people want to buy over another similar product

VAT – Value Added Tax – tax on certain goods and services (used in Europe)

WO – work order – an order received by a business from a customer to create something or complete certain work

YTD – Year-to-Date – the period from the beginning of the year to the present time; often used when talking about profit, loss, or productivity

Abbreviations that only have the first letter of the abbreviation capitalized:

Asst. – assistant – a person who works with and assists a person of ranks (a senior person) in a business

Dept. – department – a division of a large organization

Dir. – director – a person who is in charge of an activity, department, or organization

Ltd. – limited – a corporation or business that has limited financial liability or responsibility if the company has financial problems

Inc. – incorporated  – this indicates that a company has been legally declared a corporate entity, separate from its owners

mfg. – manufacturing – the making of  goods on a large scale using machinery

I welcome other contributions to this list!