Common Business Acronyms For Professional Environments

Updated 30 September 2022

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Many types of professionals use acronyms to communicate more efficiently and quickly with their teams. These acronyms may be specific to a certain type of industry or used widely by many types of professionals. Learning about these acronyms may help you understand their usage and begin using them yourself. In this article, we list business acronyms in various categories, such as finance, marketing, productivity, quality control and law.

What Is A Business Acronym?

Acronyms are short phrases where each letter of the acronym is the first letter of each word in the phrase. For example, you can turn the phrase be right back into the acronym BRB. Business acronyms are acronyms that you commonly find in business contexts, for example in finance, marketing, sales or in the names of departments or job titles. Some frequently used acronyms can become words themselves, such as the acronym AWOL, which stands for absent without leave.

Why Are Business Acronyms Important?

Business acronyms are important because you can save time when you discuss work-related subjects by using acronyms everyone understands. They are also useful for personal correspondence, such as in emails and text messages. You might also use them on documents and forms where you have a limited amount of space to include titles, names of departments or other common phrases.

These can also be useful when recording notes during meetings or in other fast-paced environments. This is because they may allow you to record relevant information without writing entire words or phrases.

Types Of Business Acronyms

Here are business-related acronyms organised into categories. This list also includes each acronym's basic meaning:

Attendance

Here are 14 acronyms used in connection with work attendance or attendance-related business systems:

AA: Attendance Allowance
ADA: Average Daily Attendance
AMS: Attendance Management System
ATAAPS: Automated Time, Attendance and Production System
COA: Cost of Attendance
CTT: Critical Time Tracking
FR: Facial Recognition
RTT: Real-Time Tracking
RTTS: Real-Time Tracking System
SU: Start-Up
SUE: Start-Up and Expansion
SUP: Start-Up Program
TRUE: Tracking Real-Time User Experience
TTS: Time Tracking System

Finance

There are many finance-related acronyms that businesses often use. These include:

A/R: Accounts Receivable
ACV: Actual Cash Value
AGI: Adjusted Gross Income
AGR: Adjusted Gross Revenue
AIR: Assumed Interest Rate
APR: Annual Percentage Rate
ARM: Adjustable Rate Mortgage
B&C: Bonds and Coupons
BIC: Bank Identifier Code
CAGR: Compound Annual Growth Rate
CD: Certificate of Deposit
CF: Cash Flow
CTC: Cost to Company
EA: Enrolled Agent
EFT: Electronic Funds Transfer
ETF: Exchange-Traded Funds
FDIC: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
FRB: Federal Reserve Board
FY: Fiscal Year
GAAP: Generally Accepted Accounting Principles
GL: General Ledger
GNP: Gross National Product
GP: Gross Profit
IAC: Investment Advisory Committee
IBAN: International Bank Account Number
IMF: International Monetary Fund
IRA: Individual Retirement Account
IRS: Internal Revenue Service
LC: Letter of Credit
LIFO: Last In, First Out
LLC: Limited Liability Company
LOI: Letter of Intent
MPR: Monthly Progress Report
NCND: Non-Circumvent and Non-Disclosure
NDA: Non-Disclosure Agreement
NI: Net Income
NOA: Net Operating Assets
NOI: Net Operating Income
BSE: Bombay Stock Exchange
OC: Opportunity Cost
OE: Equity and Owner's Equity
OTC: Over the Counter
P&L: Profit and Loss
PAT: Profit After Tax
PBT: Profit Before Tax
PE: Private Equity
PO: Purchase Order
PSP: Profit-Sharing Plan
PV: Present Value
QTD: Quarter to Date
REIT: Real Estate Investment Trust
ROCE: Return on Capital Employed
ROIC: Return on Invested Capital
RONA: Return on Net Assets
ROS: Return on Sales
SEC: Securities Exchange Commission
SIV: Structured Investment Vehicle

Job and department titles

You might find several jobs or department titles referred to only by their acronym. Here are 38 common examples:

AA: Accounting Assistant
ACA: Accounting Clerk
AAFA: Aeronautical Administration
ABACUS: Advanced Business Application Centre of Excellence
ADAC: Admissions, Attendance and College Relations
AFAC: Assistant Fund Accounts Clerk
AIDC: Administrative Instructional Design Coordinator
AKA: Authorised Key Account Representative
AMS: Attendance Management System
B&C: Bonds and Coupons
BRAC: Base Realignment and Closure
BTD: Business Technology Division
CA: Customer Acquisition Coordinator
CAO: Chief Accounting Officer
CFO: Chief Financial Officer
CHRO: Chief Human Resource Officer
CMO: Communications Manager
DDF: Direct Deposit Form
DEP: Debt and Equity Planner
DIACDM: Data Interchange and Analysis Coordinator, Distribution Management
DRO: Designated Representative of Organization
DRS: Data Recovery Specialist
EAC: Education Associate
EAC/PSE: Education Associate with Professional Certification
EATC: Educational Affairs Program Specialist
EC: Executive Committee
EBACS: Employee Benefits Administration Control System
EEMS: Employee Evaluation and Management Systems
FP&A: Financial Planning & Analysis
GC: General Counsel
HRM: Human Resource Manager
IT: Information Technology
PRO: Public Relations Officer
QC: Quality Control
R&D: Research and Development
RMP: Risk Management Professional
SCM: Supply Chain Management
VP: Vice President

Marketing and sales

These are 30 marketing and sales acronyms you may use regularly:

KYC: Know Your Customer
MLM: Multi-Level Marketing
MOQ: Minimum Order Quantity
MRP: Maximum Retail Price
MSRP: Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price
MTP: Message Transfer Part
MVT: Multivariate Testing
NTIS: National Technical Information Service
OEM: Original Equipment Manufacturer
OSPF: Open Shortest Path First
PEG: Price Elasticity of Supply
PLM: Product Lifecycle Management
PMI: Profitability Margin Index
P&L: Profit and Loss
POP: Point of Purchase
POS: Point of Sale
PPIP: Proprietary Product Issuance Program
PPS: Price Per Unit
PQC: Product Quality Control
RAS: Random Access Storage
RFID: Radio Frequency Identification Device
ROI: Return on Investment
RPO: Return Policy Option
RUM: Return on Marketing
SAM: Sales and Account Management
SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-related
SPOT: Strategic Planning On Target
SSM: Surplus Sales Manager
TQM: Total Quality Management
EFT: Electronic Funds Transfer

Miscellaneous

The following list comprises 15 acronyms you might use in emails. You may also find some of these in more than one business category:

A/N: Author's Note
AKA: Also Known As
AWOL: Absent Without Official Leave
BRB: Be Right Back
CC: Carbon copy
CM: Comment
DM: Direct Message
E.G.: For Example
ETC: Etcetera
FWD: Forward
FYI: For Your Information
GTG: Got to Go
LOL: Laugh out loud
PM: Private Message
TTYL: Talk To You Later

Productivity

Business documents and conversations might use some of the following acronyms when discussing productivity:

ALP: Average Labour Productivity
GPP: Gross Primary Productivity
KPP: Knowledge and Process-Based Productivity
MITs: Most Important Things
MPP: Manufacturing Process Performance
MRP: Material Requirements Planning
SPR: Software Productivity Research
OD: Overall Density
OHIO: Only Handle It Once
PC: Productivity Commission
PLB: Productivity Linked Bonus
WIP: Work in Process
WMC: Work Measurement and Costing

Quality management

These are 10 quality management acronyms you may run into. You might use them yourself in business documents and conversations:

APQP: Attribute-based Process Quality Planning
CMM: Capability Maturity Model
ECM: Enterprise Content Management
FSP: Fundamental Science Practices
GMP: Good Manufacturing Practices
ISO: International Organization for Standardization
JIT: Just In Time
PDCA: Plan Do Check Act
PLM: Product Lifecycle Management
SOP: Standard Operating Procedure

Technical

These are 20 acronyms that technology departments often use:

AES: Advanced Encryption Standard
AWG: American Wire Gauge
BICSI: Building Industry Consulting Service International
CEA: Consumer Electronics Association
CFC: Committed Flow Capacity
CMS: Content Management System
EIA: Electrical Industry Association
ERP: Enterprise Resource Planning
FCC: Federal Communications Commission
IPSEC: Internet Protocol Security
ISP: Internet Service Provider
IT: Information Technology
LAN: Local Area Network
LDAP: Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
LLC: Limited Liability Company
MFP: Multi-Function Printer
MOU: Memorandum of Understanding
MTBF: Mean Time Between Failures
RTCP: RTP Control Protocol
TCP/IP: Transmission Control Protocol/ Internet Protocol

Legal

The following list covers terms that appear in business contracts and other legal documents:

AB: Accepted Bid
A&B: Acts and By-Laws
A&I: Acts and Incidents
ASD: Addendum to Contract Documents
ATC: Addendum to Contract
ATT: Attachment
BIC: Bid and Insurance Certificate
BID: Bid or Proposal
CF: Confidential Fax
CFR: Code of Federal Regulations
CIP: Contractor's Installation Procedures
COI: Certificate of Insurance
D&O: Directors and Officers
DLP: Closing Disclosure Planner
DSA: Default of Payment Clause
EAS: Estimated Accelerated Proceeds
FCT: Final Closing
FMV: Fair Market Value
FTP: File Transfer Protocol
HUB: Headquarters Business
IMF: Interest Multiplier Factor
MIB: Material Inspection Board
MOU: Memorandum of Understanding
NOI: Notice of Intent
POP: Proof of Payment