What's the difference between revenue and profit?

Revenue is everything that comes in from sales. Profit is what's left after you subtract costs. A business can have high revenue and low profit.

Why is gross and net confusing?

Gross is the number before anything is taken out, net is after. It applies to income, salary and profit, so always check which one you're reading.

Finance vocabulary in English

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Finance vocabulary
Term	Meaning	Spanish	Example
revenue	money a business earns from sales	ingresos	Revenue grew 15 percent this quarter.
profit margin	the percentage of revenue that is profit	margen de ganancia	Our profit margin improved after cutting costs.
cash flow	the money moving in and out of a business	flujo de caja	We had a cash flow problem in January.
budget	a plan for how much to spend	presupuesto	We're over budget this month.
savings	money set aside, not spent	ahorros	We used our savings to cover the gap.
invoice	a bill for goods or services	factura	Please send the invoice by Friday.
expense	money spent on something	gasto	Travel expenses are covered by the company.
assets	things of value a company owns	activos	Our main assets are the software and the team.
liabilities	money a company owes	pasivos	Liabilities include the loan and unpaid invoices.
equity	the value left after liabilities are paid	patrimonio neto	Shareholders hold equity in the company.
loan	money borrowed that must be paid back	préstamo	We took out a loan to buy new equipment.
pay down debt	to pay back money owed, a little at a time	pagar una deuda de a poco	The company used extra profit to pay down debt.
interest rate	the cost of borrowing money, as a percentage	tasa de interés	The interest rate went up this year.
net income	profit after all expenses and taxes	resultado neto	Net income was lower than expected.
gross income	income before expenses and taxes	ingreso bruto	Gross income doesn't show the real profit.
overhead	ongoing costs not tied to one product	gastos generales	Rent and salaries are part of our overhead.
break even	the point where costs equal revenue	punto de equilibrio	We expect to break even by June.
ROI (return on investment)	the profit made compared to what was spent	retorno de la inversión	The campaign had a strong ROI.
forecast	a prediction of future numbers	proyección	Our sales forecast for Q3 is optimistic.
fiscal year	a company's 12 month accounting period	año fiscal	Our fiscal year starts in July.
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.
stakeholder	anyone affected by or interested in the business	parte interesada	We presented the results to key stakeholders.
shareholder	someone who owns part of the company	accionista	Shareholders vote on major decisions.
dividend	a share of profit paid to shareholders	dividendo	The company pays dividends every quarter.
audit	a formal check of financial records	auditoría	The audit found no issues.
write off	to record a loss as a tax deduction	dar de baja, castigar contablemente	We had to write off the unpaid invoice.
overdue	past the date it was due	vencido, atrasado	The payment is three weeks overdue.
installment	one of several scheduled payments	cuota	You can pay in three installments.

How to use these at work

Learn the pair that confuses most Spanish speakers first: revenue (ingresos) is not the same as profit (ganancia). Revenue is everything that comes in, profit is what's left.
In a finance update, lead with the number, then the word: revenue was up 15 percent, not a long introduction before the figure.
Gross and net appear everywhere: gross is before deductions, net is after. Gross income, net income, gross salary, net salary.

Practice

Questions

What's the difference between revenue and profit?: Revenue is everything that comes in from sales. Profit is what's left after you subtract costs. A business can have high revenue and low profit.
Why is gross and net confusing?: Gross is the number before anything is taken out, net is after. It applies to income, salary and profit, so always check which one you're reading.

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