Business Terms

Intercompany Vs. Intracompany: What’s The Difference?

Companies have many different ways that they interact with their branches and with other companies. There are often terms used that shorten longer descriptions that end up turning into business jargon. Once you know what the term means and understand its components, then it’s easy enough to keep the meanings of the two clear. Intercompany […]

Internship Vs. Co-op (Cooperative Education): What’s The Difference?

There are several different opportunities that college students can take advantage of besides just taking classes. Among them are internships and cooperative education opportunities, more often shortened to co-ops. If you’re interested in getting career experience and beefing up your resume, then both internships and co-ops are excellent opportunities. Internships are something that the majority […]

Proceeds Vs. Profits: What’s The Difference?

There are many terms in finance and business that get tossed around without any real explanation as to what they mean. Both proceeds and profits have to do with money made from sales and other transactions, but what’s the difference between the two? Profits are the money made minus the cost of the goods sold. […]

Formal Assessment Vs. Informal Assessment: What’s The Difference?

Every student and former student is familiar with the idea of assessments. For most of us, it brings up dreaded memories of tests and essays and that feeling of being judged on what we could memorize in time. While that is a type of assessment, it isn’t the only way that teachers assess whether or […]

Inbound vs. Outbound: What’s The Difference?

A company’s marketing strategy can arguably be one of the most important things that contribute to sales success for a business. When discussing your company’s marketing strategy, you may hear terms like inbound or outbound marketing. Many marketers have preferences when it comes to these two strategies, depending on their goals. Because these two concepts […]

Public Sector Vs. Private Sector: What’s The Difference?

There are pros and cons to choosing a job in the private sector as opposed to the public sector. When deciding what type of career you want, it’s important to consider whether it’s likely to fall in the private sector or public sector – and whether or not it may cross over. The two terms […]

Stipend Vs. Salary: What’s The Difference?

There are several different ways that employees and other workers get paid. The best-known ones are salary and wages, but stipends are another specific type of pay. The exact differences between them and how to categorize each type of payment can get a bit confusing. First of all, a stipend and a salary aren’t the […]

Transactional Leadership Vs. Transformational Leadership: What’s The Difference?

Leadership and different ways to lead are major debates in the business world. There are a lot of classes, seminars, and books written on leadership and leadership styles, showing that there’s a lack of general consensus. When it comes to running a department in a business or other organization, however, there are two major types […]

Income Vs. Revenue: What’s The Difference?

The business world has no shortage of industry-specific terms, and two of these are income and revenue. While they may seem interchangeable, they actually have two very different meanings, and it’s important to know the difference when you’re dealing with your business’s finances. In this article, we’ll explain what income is, what revenue is, and […]

Salary Vs. Wage: What’s The Difference?

There are a lot of different terms surrounding payroll and employee compensation, and two of these are “salary” and “wage.” These terms are often used interchangeably, and while they do have some crossover in a few contexts, they actually refer to two different pay structures. In this article, we’ll cover what a salary is, what […]

Consumer Vs. Customer: What’s The Difference?

Economics, marketing, and business all have their own jargon. In some cases, they overlap, while in others, they’re quite specific. The terms consumer and customer are often used in the vernacular as being interchangeable, but that’s not quite true. There are differences between the two, even if, in most cases, it’s subtle. A customer is […]

Letter Of Interest Vs. Cover Letter: What’s The Difference?

So, you’re considering getting a new job. You’re weighing your options and are looking around at the companies you’d like to work for, all while polishing your resume. Now the question is: do I add a cover letter or letter of interest? Or do I need to add any sort of letter at all? In […]

Union Workers Vs. Nonunion Workers: What’s The Difference?

There has been a major debate for years about whether or not employees should unionize and why. Unions have, as a rule, lost power over the last few decades – especially in the south. There are numerous factors that contributed to this, but what we’re focused on here is what the differences are between union […]

Implicit Vs. Explicit Costs: What’s The Difference?

If you’re running a business, one of your primary goals will be to make a profit. In order to find out what your profit is, you must understand what implicit and explicit costs are and how they differ. You will deal with both types of costs while doing business and must use them to determine […]

Cover Letter Vs. Resume: What’s The Difference?

When applying for a new job, many employers require candidates to submit cover letters and resumes. These documents give you the opportunity to show off your personality, skills, qualifications, certifications, education, and experience. Your cover letter and resume are typically the first impressions an employer will get of who you are as a professional. In […]

Business Casual Vs. Business Professional: What’s The Difference?

Dress codes are notoriously confusing, and this goes for workplace dress codes as well. Some of the most common – and most commonly confused – workplace dress codes are business casual and business professional, and it’s important to know what to wear for each one. In this article, we’ll go over business casual and business […]

Absolute Advantage Vs. Comparative Advantage: What’s The Difference?

In the world of economics and international trade, absolute advantage and comparative advantage are crucial concepts to understand. Both provide businesses and countries with important information that helps them choose how they wish to divide resources for particular goods and services. However, these concepts serve different purposes. Luckily, to find out more about all of […]

Gross Sales Vs. Net Sales: What’s The Difference?

Business and accounting, like all specialties, have their jargon and technical terms. Many business terms are used regularly, but it isn’t always clear what they mean – or even if they’re being used properly. This is partially true in a situation like gross sales and net sales. It’s clear that they’re different calculations of sales, […]

Amortization Vs. Depreciation: What’s The Difference?

While amortization sounds like a term in the funerary industry, it’s actually a business and accounting term, like depreciation. Both have to do with how a business determines its value and categorizes its assets. Amortization and depreciation relate to assets that a company owns and the value derived from them. The difference between them is […]

FIFO Vs. LIFO: What’s The Difference?

Both first in, first out (FIFO) and last in, last out (LIFO) are inventory practices. They’re most often put in their acronym forms, which makes them difficult to tell apart. But even when they aren’t, you may wonder: What exactly does that mean? How does inventory management even work? The main reason to select one […]

Revenue Vs. Sales: What’s The Difference?

Finance and accounting are complex fields with their own terminology and regulations. A business’s sales and revenue fit into this category. You may wonder – aren’t sales how you generate revenue? Or is there more to this? Revenue is defined by Merriam-Webster as either “the total income produced by a given source” or “the gross […]

Vertical Integration Vs. Horizontal Integration: What’s The Difference?

Both vertical integration and horizontal integration are types of business consolidation strategies. While the terms sound abstract, they’re actually descriptive of the process, which means that once they’re explained to you, it isn’t difficult to remember which is which. Companies can take one of two tracks (or both of them, if they have enough capital) […]

Part-Time Vs. Full-Time: What’s The Difference?

While most Americans think of a full-time job as working 40 hours a week, the differences between full-time and part-time aren’t legally defined – at least, not federally. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) does define a full-time job as someone who works 30 or more hours per week; however, that only relates to whether or […]

Tactics Vs. Strategy: What’s The Difference?

The terms tactics and strategy are used a lot in business environments (along with their adjective forms, tactical and strategic), but often without any real context. Due to the nature of the words, they’re not always used correctly, either, further confusing the issue. Both words originally come from military terminology. They’re two different important parts […]

Not For Profit Organization Vs. Nonprofit Organization: What’s The Difference?

While nonprofit and not-for-profit sound like they’re interchangeable, they actually aren’t. If your group is labeled either a nonprofit organization or a not-for-profit organization, it means different things in terms of taxes and organizational structure. There is a fair amount of overlap between the two, and not all of the rules are hard and fast. […]

Boss Vs. Leader: What’s The Difference?

While the words boss and leader have similar definitions, the meaning isn’t exactly the same. A lot of this is connotation, which means that it’s how the words are used in the vernacular, as opposed to denotation, which is their strict dictionary definition. Generally speaking, one would call someone in a position of authority a […]

Semimonthly Vs. Biweekly Payroll: What’s The Difference?

Different employers will have different payroll schedules, and you may wonder exactly what the differences and pros and cons are. The most typical schedules are weekly, biweekly, semimonthly, and monthly. In this article, we’ll explore the differences between a semimonthly and a biweekly payroll. The most obvious difference is that a semimonthly payroll is paid […]

Margin Account Vs. Cash Account: What’s The Difference?

Both margin accounts and cash accounts are types of accounts used by investors. They both are used for buying, selling, and lending stocks. If you’re planning to get into investing, then it’s important to understand the differences between the two. The names of the accounts are actually quite descriptive, which makes them easy to remember […]

Elastic Demand Vs. Inelastic Demand: What’s The Difference?

While you may have heard the terms elastic and inelastic in reference to economics or a market, it isn’t always clear what it means. Most everyone thinks of elastic as something that you add to clothes to make them stretch, but it also has a different meaning: changeable. That is the definition that is used […]

Stakeholder Vs. Shareholder: What’s The Difference?

Both stakeholders and shareholders have a vested interest in what a company does and its profits. The similarities in names and the fact they’re both affected by the company’s performance can lead to the terms being used interchangeably. However, the fact of the matter is that the two aren’t the same and have a vested […]