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401(k) Plan - EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLAN authorized by INTERNAL REVENUE CODE section 401(k), whereby an employer establishes an account for each participating employee and each participant elects to deposit a portion of his or her salary into the account. The amount deposited is not subject to income tax. This is the most common type of salary reduction plan.

Face Value - Amount due at maturity from a BOND or note.

Factoring - Selling a RECEIVABLE at a discounted value to a third party for cash.

FASB - See FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING STANDARDS BOARD (FASB).

Fair Market Value - Price at which property would change hands between a buyer and a seller without any compulsion to buy or sell, and both having reasonable knowledge of the relevant facts.

Favorable Variance - Excess of actual REVENUE over projected revenue, or actual costs over projected costs.

Fiduciary - Person who is responsible for the administration of property owned by others. Corporate management is a FIDUCIARY with respect to corporate ASSETS which are beneficially owned by the stockholders and CREDITORS. Similarly, a TRUSTEE is the fiduciary of a TRUST and partners owe fiduciary responsibility to each other and to their creditors.

FIFO - See FIRST IN, FIRST OUT.

Filing of Returns - Taxpayers meeting statutory requirements MUST file various returns on the prescribed forms. And they must be filed timely or the y may not be considered as filed.

Financial Accounting Standards - Official promulgations, known as STATEMENTS OF FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING STANDARDS, by the FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING STANDARDS BOARD (FASB) which are part of GENERALLY ACCEPTED ACCOUNTING PRINCIPLES (GAAP) in the United States.

Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) - Independent, private, non-governmental authority for the establishment of ACCOUNTING principles in the United States.

Financial Institution - Organization engaged in any of the many aspects of finance including commercial banks, thrift institutions, investment banks, securities brokers and dealers, credit unions, investment companies, insurance companies, and REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUSTS.

Financial Statements - Presentation of financial data including BALANCE SHEETS, INCOME STATEMENTS and STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOW, or any supporting statement that is intended to communicate an entity"s financial position at a point in time and its results of operations for a period then ended.

First in, First out (FIFO) - ACCOUNTING method of valuing INVENTORY under which the costs of the first goods acquired are the first costs charged to expense. Commonly known as FIFO.

Fiscal Year - Period of 12 consecutive months chosen by an entity as its ACCOUNTING period which may or may not be a calendar year. Fixed Asset - Any tangible ASSET with a life of more than one year used in an entity"s operations.

Floor - Term used when discussing INVENTORIES. Inventory cannot be valued lower than the "floor" which is the net realizable value of the inventory less an allowance for a normal profit margin.

Forecast - Prospective FINANCIAL STATEMENTS that are an entity"s expected financial position, results of operations, and cash flows.

Foreclosure - Seizure of COLLATERAL by a CREDITOR when DEFAULT under a loan agreement occurs.

Foreign Corporation - A corporation which is not organized under the laws of ones territories or states. Taxing of foreign corporations depends on whether the corporation has Nexus or effectively connected income in that state.

Foreign Currency Translation - Restating foreign currency in equivalent dollars; unrealized gains or losses are postponed and carried in Stockholder"s Equity until the foreign operation is substantially liquidated.

Foreign Tax Credit - A U.S. taxpayer that pays or accrues income tax to a foreign country may elect to credit or deduct these taxes in a determinable us dollar amount. This is usually done on the annual individual tax return and there is s specific form provided for this.

Form 8-K - SEC filing which is a filing that must be made on the occurrence of an event that is deemed to be of significant importance to SECURITY holders.

Form 10-K - SEC filing which is the ANNUAL REPORT due 90 days after the registrant"s BALANCE SHEET date.

Form 10-Q - SEC filing which is the quarterly report due 45 days after each of the first three quarter.ends of each fiscal year.

Franchise - Legal arrangement whereby the owner of a trade name, franchisor, contracts with a party that wants to use the name on a non-exclusive basis to sell goods or services, franchisee. Frequently, the franchise agreement grants strict supervisory powers to the franchisor over the franchisee which, nevertheless, is an independent business.

Fraud - Willful misrepresentation by one person of a fact inflicting damage on another person.

Fund Accounting - Method of ACCOUNTING and presentation whereby ASSETS and LIABILITIES are grouped according to the purpose for which they are to be used. Generally used by government entities and not-for-profits. (See RESTRICTED FUND and UNRESTRICTED FUND.)

Future Contract - Transferable agreement to deliver or receive during a specific future month a standardized amount of a commodity.