What's the difference between accounts payable and accounts receivable?

Accounts payable is what you owe to others. Accounts receivable is what others owe you. Opposite directions of the same idea.

Can I practice explaining financial reports in English in class?

Yes, an English for work class can walk through your real reports and build the phrases you need to present or discuss them.

Accounting vocabulary in English

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Accounting vocabulary
Term	Meaning	Spanish	Example
ledger	a record of all financial transactions	libro mayor	Every transaction is logged in the ledger.
balance sheet	a report of assets, liabilities and equity at a point in time	balance general	The balance sheet shows a strong cash position.
income statement	a report of revenue and expenses over a period	estado de resultados	The income statement shows a loss this quarter.
accounts payable	money a company owes to suppliers	cuentas por pagar	Accounts payable are due within 30 days.
accounts receivable	money owed to a company by clients	cuentas por cobrar	Accounts receivable increased this month.
reconciliation	checking that two sets of records match	conciliación	We do a bank reconciliation every month.
depreciation	the loss in value of an asset over time	depreciación	We depreciate equipment over five years.
journal entry	a record of a single transaction	asiento contable	She posted the journal entry this morning.
fiscal year	a company's 12 month accounting period	año fiscal	Our fiscal year starts in July.
audit trail	a record showing the history of a transaction	rastro de auditoría	Keep an audit trail for every refund.
accrual	recording income or expense before cash changes hands	devengado	We use accrual accounting, not cash basis.
cash basis	recording transactions only when cash moves	base de caja	Small businesses sometimes use cash basis accounting.
write-off	removing an asset or debt that won't be recovered	baja contable	We had to write off an unpaid invoice.
general ledger	the main record of all accounts	libro mayor general	Post the adjustment to the general ledger.
trial balance	a list of all ledger balances used to check accuracy	balance de comprobación	The trial balance didn't match, so we checked for errors.
invoice	a bill for goods or services	factura	Please send the invoice by Friday.
payable terms	the agreed timeline for paying an invoice	condiciones de pago	Our payable terms are net 30.
variance	the difference between budgeted and actual numbers	variación, desvío	There's a 10 percent variance in marketing spend.
closing the books	finalizing financial records for a period	cierre contable	We close the books on the fifth of each month.
cost center	a part of the business tracked for its costs	centro de costos	Each department is its own cost center.
capital expenditure	money spent on long-term assets	gasto de capital	The new equipment is a capital expenditure.
operating expense	the cost of running day-to-day operations	gasto operativo	Rent is an operating expense.
tax compliance	meeting all tax filing requirements	cumplimiento fiscal	An external firm handles our tax compliance.
financial statement	a formal report of a company's finances	estado financiero	The financial statements are reviewed quarterly.
net worth	assets minus liabilities	patrimonio neto	The company's net worth grew this year.

How to use these at work

Actually doesn't mean actualmente. Use currently for current state: we're currently closing the books for the month.
Balance in English has a specific accounting sense (balance sheet, account balance) close to Spanish saldo or balance, but balance general is balance sheet, not just balance.
English accounting reports favor exact, repeated terms over synonyms, the same logic as legal writing: once you call something accounts payable, keep calling it that throughout.

Practice

Questions

What's the difference between accounts payable and accounts receivable?: Accounts payable is what you owe to others. Accounts receivable is what others owe you. Opposite directions of the same idea.
Can I practice explaining financial reports in English in class?: Yes, an English for work class can walk through your real reports and build the phrases you need to present or discuss them.

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