123 Common Business Acronyms You Need to Know

Ever feel like your co-workers—or, worse, your boss—are speaking to you in a different language? No, I’m not talking about your team suddenly deciding to conduct a meeting entirely in French. I’m talking about what often seems to be the language of the business world: acronyms.

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While some of us have the guts to ask for clarification when we have no idea what’s being said, others of us cringe at the thought of asking potentially “stupid” questions. Well, to everyone in the latter group: Today’s your lucky day. We’ve rounded up abbreviations for the most commonly used terms that you’re likely to run into at work (or more likely, in an email).

Better yet, they’re categorized by department, so you can prep before a meeting with your finance, technical, or marketing teams. (And because we’re pretty sure that, regardless of your role, you don’t want to be the only one who nods with a confused smile when there’s a RFD because the CTR for your website decreased and a QA test is required by EOD.)

General

1. BID: Break it down

2. COB: Close of business

3. EOD: End of day

4. EOM: End of message OR end of month

5. EOT: End of thread

6. EOW: End of week

7. ETA: Estimated time of arrival

8. FTE: Full-time employee

9. FWIW: For what it’s worth

10. IAM: In a meeting

11. IMO: In my opinion

12. KISS: Keep it simple stupid

13. LET: Leaving early today

14. LMK: Let me know

15. MoM: Month over month

16. MTD: Month to date

17. NIM: No internal message

18. OOO: Out of office

19. OT: Off topic

20. OTP: On the phone

21. PA: Performance appraisal

22. POC: Point of contact

23. PTE: Part-time employee

24. PTO: Paid time off

25. NRN: No reply necessary

26. NSFW: Not safe for work

27. NWR: Not work related

28. Re: Referring to

29. RFD: Request for discussion

30. SMART: Specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, time-bound

31. SME: Subject matter expert

32. TED: Tell me, explain to me, describe to me

33. TL;DR: Too long, didn’t read

34. TLTR: Too long to read

35. TOS: Terms of service

36. TYT: Take your time

37. WFH: Work from home

38. WIIFM: What’s in it for me

39. WOM: Word of mouth

40. YTD: Year to date

Finance

41. ACCT: Account

42. AP: Accounts payable

43. AR: Accounts receivable

44. BS: Balance sheet

45. CPU: Cost per unit

46. CR: Credit

47. DR: Debit

48. EPS: Earnings per share

49. FIFO: First in, first out

50. IPO: Initial public offering

51. LIFO: Last in, first out

52. LWOP: Leave without pay

53. NAV: Net assets value

54. P-card: Purchase card

55. ROA: Return on assets

56. ROE: Return on equity

57. ROI: Return on investment

58. P/E: Price to earnings

59. P&L: Profit and loss

Technical

60. API: Application program interface

61. CPU: Central processing unit

62. CSS: Cascading style sheet

63. FTP: File transport protocol

64. HTML: HyperText markup language

65. HTTP: HyperText transfer protocol

66. HTTPS: HyperText transfer protocol secure

67. IM: Instant messaging

68. IP: Internet protocol

69. ISP: Internet service provider

70. OS: Operating system

71. QA: Quality assurance

72. UI: User interface

73. URL: Universal resource locator

74. UX: User experience

75. VPN: Virtual private network

76. RAM: Random-access memory

77. ROR: Ruby on Rails

78. RSS: Rich site summary OR really simple syndication

79. WYSIWYG: What you see is what you get

Marketing and Sales

80. AIDA: Attention, interest, desire, action

81. B2B: Business to business

82. B2C: Business to consumer

83. BR: Bounce rate

84. CMS: Content management system

85. CPC: Cost per click

86. CTA: Call to action

87. CTR: Click through rate

88. CR: Conversion rate

89. CRM: Customer relationship management

90. DM: Direct message or direct mail

91. ESP: Email service provider

92. GA: Google Analytics

93. KPI: Key performance indicator

94. PPC: Pay per click

95. PV: Page view

96. RFP: Request for proposal

97. ROS: Run of site

98. RT: Retweet

99. SaaS: Software as a service

100. SEO: Search engine optimization

101. SM: Social media

102. SMB: Small to medium business

103. SWOT: Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats

104. UV: Unique visitor

Job and Department Titles

105. BD: Business development

106. CAO: Chief analytics officer

107. CDO: Chief data officer

108. CEO: Chief executive officer

109. CFO: Chief financial officer

110. CIO: Chief information officer

111. CMO: Chief marketing officer

112. COO: Chief operating officer

113. CPA: Certified public accountant

114. CSO: Chief security officer

115. CSR: Corporate social responsibility

116. CTO: Chief technology officer

117. CFP: Certified financial planner

118. DOE: Depending on experience

119. GC: General counsel

120. HR: Human resources

121. PM: Project manager

122. PR: Public relations

123. R&D: Research and development

Photo of keyboard courtesy of Shutterstock.