What is an Oligopoly? Oligo means a small number. A market ruled by a small number of firms that can exert great influence on prices, policies, and procedures, is called an Oligopoly. This market dominance can be achieved by large firms merging together to destroy competition, single firms monopolising the market and keeping other players at bay via...

What Documents are Required to Form a Business Entity? The organizational documents of a business generally include the documents used to form or organize the business (registration documents) and the operational documents used to control activity within the business (operational documents).  The organizational documents are known as:  the declarati...

What is a Holding Period? Holding Period is the amount of time that the purchaser of property is the record owner of that property. The holding period does not necessarily require physical position. This time period is significant as it affects tax liability for capital gains. There are two types of holding periods: short and long term - each with a...

What are the applicable labeling laws regulating consumer products? Labeling laws are administered by a combination of federal and state agencies. Federal agencies heavily involved in product labeling laws include the CPSC, FTC, and FDA. Collectively, federal and state laws require manufacturers to place informative labels and warnings on various ty...

What is the Accounting Equation? Assets = Liabilities + Equity The accounting equation, also known as the fundamental accounting equation or a balance sheet equation, is a principle of accounting that establishes a correlation between assets, liabilities and equity of an individual or a business entity.  An accounting equation is a principal compone...

What is an Accumulated Fund? An association, charity, club, or any non-profit organization can have an accumulated fund. Money goes into the accumulated fun when the non-profit organization has extra income, that is when revenues are higher than expenses. Deficits are also withdrawn from accumulated fund in cases of liabilities, when the revenues ar...

What is the Automated Clearing House (ACH)? The Automated Clearing House (ACH) Network refers to an electronic funds-transfer system operated by NACHA since 1974, previously the National Automated Clearing House Association. This method of payment deals with direct deposit, consumer bills, tax refunds, tax payments, payroll, and more payment service...

What is Financial Statement Analysis? Every company, firm or organization has a financial statement which is the official record of losses, profits, expenses and revenue of a business over a given period of time. Examples of a company's financial statements are balance sheet, income statement, statement of cash flows, notes to accounts, and others. ...

What is A Posteriori? A posteriori is a Latin phrase that means "from the later." It refers to knowledge gained following the analysis of an issue. It is the opposite of A Priori, which is knowledge obtained prior an analysis. It is deemed to be experiential whereas its opposite - a priori is deemed to be universal. How does  A Posteriori Work? As k...

What is Substitution Bias? A fixed and unchanging basket of goods assumes that consumers are locked into buying exactly the same goods, regardless of price changes—not a very likely assumption. Thus, substitution bias—the rise in the price of a fixed basket of goods over time—tends to overstate the rise in a consumer’s true cost of living, because i...