Industry WIKI

.bank is a generic top level domain (gTLD) used in the Domain Name System of the internet. The TLD was officially delegated to fTLD Registry Services on behalf of the Financial Services Roundtable and the American Bankers Association on January 5, 2015.

.coop is a sponsored top-level domain (sTLD) in the Domain Name System of the Internet. It is intended for the use of cooperatives, their wholly owned subsidiaries, and other organizations that exist to promote or support cooperatives.

@Home Network was an American high-speed cable Internet service provider from 1996 to 2002. It was founded by Milo Medin, cable companies Tele-Communications Inc. (TCI), Comcast, and Cox Communications, and William Randolph Hearst III, who was their first CEO, as a joint venture to produce high-speed cable Internet service through two-way television cable infrastructure. At the company's

The 20,000 Colombian peso note ($20,000) is one of the notes in circulation in Colombia. It is about 143 × 66 millimeters and the predominant color is orange. The front features former Colombian president Alfonso López Michelsen and a sugar apple, while the reverse shows a sombrero vueltiao and the canals of La Mojana. The first series of 20,000 peso notes was issued from 1996 to 2016. T

The Turkish economic boom of the 2000s (also known as the Turkish economic miracle) was a period of stabilization and growth following the 2001 Turkish economic crisis. Between 2002 and 2007, Turkey's economy experienced an average growth rate of 7.2%, much higher than the average growth rate during the nineties. The Turkish economy saw relative prosperity during the 2008 financial crisi

Between May 2006 and the end of 2012 there were 67 finance company collapses in New Zealand, including companies entering into liquidation, receivership or moratoria. An inquiry by the New Zealand Parliament estimated losses at over $3 billion that affected between 150,000 and 200,000 depositors. The most high-profile collapses were South Canterbury Finance, Hanover Finance and Bridgecor

In January 2008, the bank Société Générale lost approximately €4.9 billion closing out positions over three days of trading beginning January 21, 2008, a period in which the market was experiencing a large drop in equity indices. The bank states these positions were fraudulent transactions created by Jérôme Kerviel, a trader with the company. The police stated they lacked evidence to cha

During the period 2007–2009, the UK government intervened financially to support the UK banking sector, and four UK banks in particular.

Since late February 2026, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz during the 2026 Iran war disrupted roughly 20 percent of the world's oil supply, triggering a global economic downturn and fuel shortages. The Philippines, which imports most of its oil from the Middle East, was particularly vulnerable to supply disruptions because of its heavy dependence on imported petroleum.

2C2P is a financial services company headquartered in Singapore. The company primarily provides payment gateway services to businesses.

The 360-day calendar is a method of measuring durations used in financial markets, in computer models, in ancient literature, and in prophetic literary genres.

Bombay 5-6, also known as simply 5-6 (pronounced "five six"), is an informal financial platform in the Philippines. Lenders do not require collateral, including documents, to potential borrowers.

99 Homes is a 2014 American independent drama film directed by Ramin Bahrani, written by Bahrani and Amir Naderi, and starring Andrew Garfield, Michael Shannon, Tim Guinee, and Laura Dern. Set in Florida, during the Great Recession, the film follows single father Dennis Nash (Garfield) and his family as they are evicted from their home by businessman Rick Carver (Shannon), leading to Nas

99ers is a colloquial term for unemployed people in the United States, mostly citizens, who have exhausted all of their unemployment benefits, including all unemployment extensions. As a result of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed by Congress in February 2009, unemployed people could receive up to 99 weeks of unemployment insurance benefits, hence the name "99ers". An es

The Aaron's Company, Inc., commonly known as Aaron's, is an American lease-to-own retailer. The company focuses on leases and retail sales of furniture, electronics, appliances, and computers. The company sells through company-operated and franchised stores and its e-commerce platform.

Aave is a decentralized finance protocol (DeFi) that enables the lending and borrowing of cryptocurrencies without the involvement of intermediary financial institutions.

Abu Dhabi Developmental Holding Company PJSC (Arabic: شركة أبوظبي التنموية القابضة ش.م.ع), branded ADQ after 2020, was a short-lived sovereign wealth fund based in Abu Dhabi. It was established in 2018 as a comparatively low-profile state-owned entity, acronymized ADDH at the time. After rebranding in 2020, it emerged as a major global investor. In 2023, it was among the world's top 10 s

An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy.

An accounting period, in bookkeeping, is the period with reference to which management accounts and financial statements are prepared.

The accounting rate of return, also known as average rate of return, or ARR, is a financial ratio used in capital budgeting. The ratio does not take into account the concept of time value of money. ARR calculates the return, generated to net income of the proposed capital investment. The ARR is a percentage return. Say, if ARR = 7%, then it means that the project is expected to earn seve

An accounting scandal is a business scandal that arises from intentional manipulation of financial statements, with the disclosure of financial misdeeds by trusted executives of corporations or governments. Such misdeeds typically involve complex methods for misusing or misdirecting funds, overstating revenues, understating expenses, overstating the value of corporate assets, or underrep

Accrual accounting in the public sector is a method to present financial information on government operations.

ACDI/VOCA is an international development nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., United States, that fosters broad-based economic growth, increased living standards, and community development. Incorporated in 1965, ACDI/VOCA's mission is to promote economic opportunities for cooperatives, enterprises and communities through the innovative application of sound business practice

Actis LLP is a global investment firm focused on sustainable infrastructure, in particular the energy, infrastructure, and real estate asset classes.

Active management (also called active investing) is an approach to investing. In an actively managed portfolio of investments, the investor selects the investments that make up the portfolio. Active management is often compared to passive management or index investing.

ActivTrades is a UK-based brokerage firm providing an electronic trading platform to trade Forex, Contracts for Difference (CFDs), and spread betting. It provides services to retail and institutional traders via the electronic trading platforms ActivTrader, MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5 and TradingView.

Ad blocking (or ad filtering) is a software capability for blocking or altering online advertising in a web browser, an application or a network. This may be done using browser extensions or other methods, such as browsers with inside blocking.

Ad tracking, also known as post-testing or ad effectiveness tracking, is in-market research that monitors a brand’s performance including brand and advertising awareness, product trial and usage, and attitudes about the brand versus their competition.

A variable-rate mortgage, adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM), or tracker mortgage is a mortgage loan with the interest rate on the note periodically adjusted based on an index which reflects the cost to the lender of borrowing on the credit markets. The loan may be offered at the lender's standard variable rate/base rate. There may be a direct and legally defined link to the underlying inde

Administered prices are prices of goods set by the internal pricing structures of firms that take into account cost rather than through the market forces of supply and demand and predicted by classical economics. They were first described by institutional economists Gardiner Means and Adolf A. Berle in their 1932 book The Modern Corporation and Private Property. As Means argued in 1972,

Rangers is a professional football club in Scotland founded in 1872. The club entered financial difficulties during the late 2000s, and the club (trading as The Rangers Football Club plc) entered administration in February 2012. It owed substantial amounts to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), who subsequently refused to allow Rangers to exit administration via a company voluntary arrangemen

Admiral Group plc is a British financial services company headquartered in Cardiff, Wales. Listed on the London Stock Exchange, it is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index, and markets the Admiral, Bell, Elephant, Diamond and Veygo insurance brands, and founded the price comparison services Confused.com, which it sold in 2021, and Compare.com.

Admirals (formerly known as Admiral Markets) is an Estonian online brokerage group based in Tallinn, Estonia, providing access to foreign-exchange trading and contracts for difference (CFDs). Established in 2003 by Alexander Tsikhilov, the company operates through several licensed entities.

The term Advanced IRB or A-IRB is an abbreviation of advanced internal ratings-based approach, and it refers to a set of credit risk measurement techniques proposed under Basel II capital adequacy rules for banking institutions.

Adyen is a Dutch payment company with the status of an acquiring bank that allows businesses to accept e-commerce, mobile, and point-of-sale payments. It is listed on the stock exchange Euronext Amsterdam.

Aerial advertising is a form of advertising that incorporates the use of flogos, manned aircraft, or drones to create, transport, or display, advertising media. The media can be static, such as a banner, logo, lighted sign or sponsorship branding. It can also be dynamic, such as animated lighted signage, skywriting, or audio.

The AEX index, derived from Amsterdam Exchange index, is a stock market index composed of Dutch companies that trade on Euronext Amsterdam, formerly known as the Amsterdam Stock Exchange. Started in 1983, the index is composed of a maximum of 30 of the most frequently traded securities on the exchange. It is one of the main national indices of the stock exchange group Euronext alongside

Affinity marketing is a concept that consists of a partnership between a company (supplier) and an organization that gathers persons sharing the same interests to bring a greater consumer base to their service, product or opinion. This partnership is known as an affinity group.

Affirm Holdings, Inc. is an American financial technology company and a point-of-sale lender. Founded in 2012 by PayPal co-founder Max Levchin, it is the largest U.S. based buy now, pay later (BNPL) financier. As of 2026, Affirm reports nearly 28 million users and processes $50 billion in annual payments.

Agile marketing, often termed marketing agility or international marketing agility, comprises sensemaking, speed, iteration, and marketing decisions; marketing decisions are performed in an agile manner, using principles from the Manifesto for Agile Software Development. Marketing Agility was named a research priority for 2020-2022 by the Marketing Science Institute.

To finance the build-out of AI data centres during the 2020s, an unprecedented amount of capital has been mobilised in the USA in particular amid a broad competition for global technological supremacy in artificial intelligence. By September 2026, analysis showed AI capital spending was larger and faster than during any previous technological boom. Early AI investment was funded primaril

Aid to the Church in Need (German: Kirche in Not, Italian: Aiuto alla Chiesa che Soffre, French: Aide à l'Eglise en détresse, Latin : Auxilium Patienti Ecclesiae) is an international Catholic pastoral aid organization, which yearly offers financial support to more than 5,000 projects worldwide.

Airline booking ploys are used by travelers in commercial aviation to lower the price of flying by circumventing airlines' rules about how airline tickets may be used. They are generally a breach of the contract of carriage between the passenger and the airline. Airlines discourage such activities but have difficulty enforcing measures against them.

AirPlus International GmbH is a global corporate payment provider offering payment and data services for corporate travel management, procurement, and travel trade. Originally a subsidiary of Lufthansa Group, the company was acquired by SEB Kort in July 2024. The company provides business-to-business payment services around business travel payment, accounting, and analysis functions, in

AirTag was a French startup that was acquired by Morpho, at the time a Safran subsidiary, in 2015. It was a mobile shopping and payments provider.

AISDALSLove (standing for Attention, Interest, Search, Desire, Action, Like/dislike, Share, and Love/hate), is an hierarchy of effects model in advertising adapted from AIDA's hierarchy of effects model (Lewis, 1900; Strong, 1925) which has been used by many researchers, both academicians and practitioners, to measure the effect of an advertisement.

Al Baraka Group B.S.C. is a Bahraini international Islamic financial group that provides retail, corporate, treasury, and investment banking services through banking subsidiaries in 13 countries. Licensed by the Central Bank of Bahrain as an Investment Business Firm – Category 1 (Islamic Principles), it is headquartered in Manama, Bahrain.

Al-Barakat, or Al-Barakaat (Arabic: البركات), which means "Blessings" in Arabic, is a group of companies established in 1987 in Somalia. The firm is involved in the modern form of hawala, an informal value transfer system and remittance method. By 2001, Al-Barakat had outlets in 40 countries, and was the country's largest private employer. It handled about 140 million US$ a year from the

Alan M. Taylor (born 15 November 1964) is an economist, academic, and policymaker. He is a professor at Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs. He is also a Research Associate

Sir Alan Arthur Walters (17 June 1926 – 3 January 2009) was a British economist who was best known as the Chief Economic Adviser to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher from 1981 to 1983 and (following his return from the United States) again for five months in 1989.

Alexander del Mar (aka Alexander Del Mar and Alexander Delmar; August 9, 1836 – July 1, 1926) was an American political economist, historian, numismatist and author. He was the first Director of the Bureau of Statistics at the U.S. Treasury Department from 1866 to 1869.

Alfred Rexroth (27 March 1899 – January 1978) was a German engineer, entrepreneur and anthroposophist. He was the director of several business enterprises including the companies Neuguss, Rhinow and his family concern Rexroth, today Bosch Rexroth. Through the donation of his fortune the GLS Bank was able to begin much of its work.

Alibi marketing and alibi branding are marketing and branding strategies used by companies to circumvent restrictions on advertising certain classes of products by instead advertising an "alibi", which does not directly reference the restricted product but is likely to remind many viewers of the brand. The alibi may be a different product or simply a word or symbol reminiscent of the res

Allan H. Meltzer (; February 6, 1928 – May 8, 2017) was an American economist and Allan H. Meltzer Professor of Political Economy at Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business and Institute for Politics and Strategy in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Meltzer specialized on studying monetary policy and the Federal Reserve System, and authored several academic papers and books on th

Allstream Inc. is a business communications provider based in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, that provides Internet Protocol (IP) connectivity, managed IP services, unified communications and voice services to its customers in the United States and Canada.

Aloha Airlines was a United States airline that operated passenger flights from 1946 until 2008. It was headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii, operating from its hub at Honolulu International Airport (now Daniel K. Inouye International Airport). Its IATA code has since been reassigned to 9 Air.

Alpari is a retail broker offering trading in the foreign exchange (forex) and contracts for difference (CFDs). The brand was founded in 1998 in Kazan, Russia, by entrepreneur Andrey Dashin. The brand has operated in a number of jurisdictions under local entities. As of 2025, Alpari’s international services are provided by Parlance Trading Ltd, licensed by the Mwali International Service

Alsana (formerly Castlewood Treatment Center) is an American eating disorder treatment provider that provides outpatient, inpatient, and residential programs. They offer care virtually, as well as in-person at their four locations in California and two in Alabama. They shut down their Missouri locations in 2024, following numerous lawsuits and changes to regulations.

Cincinnati Bell, Inc., doing business as Altafiber, is a regional telecommunications service provider based in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It provides landline telephone, fiber-optic Internet, and IPTV services through its subsidiaries Altafiber Home Phone and Hawaiian Telcom, which are the incumbent local exchange carriers for the Greater Cincinnati metropolitan area (aka "The Tri-

Alternative Bank Switzerland (ABS) is a sustainability-oriented bank based in Olten, Canton of Solothurn, in Switzerland. Its headquarters are situated in the former building of the Walter Verlag.

Alternative data (in finance) refers to data used to obtain insight into the investment process. These data sets are often used by hedge fund managers and other institutional investment professionals within an investment company. Alternative data sets are information about a particular company that is published by sources outside of the company, which can provide unique and timely insigh

An alternative investment, also known as an alternative asset or alternative investment fund (AIF), is an investment in any asset class excluding capital stocks, bonds, and cash.

Alternative risk transfer (ART) is the use of techniques other than traditional insurance and reinsurance to provide risk-bearing entities with coverage or protection. The field of alternative risk transfer grew out of a series of insurance capacity crises in the 1970s through 1990s that drove purchasers of traditional coverage to seek more robust ways to buy protection.

The Z-score formula for predicting bankruptcy was published in 1968 by Edward I. Altman, who was, at the time, an Assistant Professor of Finance at New York University. The formula may be used to determine the probability that a firm will go into bankruptcy within two years. Z-scores are used to predict corporate defaults and an easy-to-calculate control measure for the financial distres

Altyn Asyr (lit. 'Golden age') is a Turkmenistani domestic card scheme founded in 2001 by the Central Bank of Turkmenistan. The Altyn Asyr system is an integral part of Turkmenistan's payment infrastructure. Altyn Asyr offers financial services, including credit card, debit card, and prepaid card issuing and network processing.

Amalgamated Bank is an American financial institution. It is the largest union-owned bank and one of the only unionized banks in the United States. Amalgamated Bank is currently majority-owned by Workers United, an SEIU Affiliate.

Amazon China (Chinese: 亚马逊中国), formerly known as Joyo.com (Chinese: 卓越网), is an online shopping website. Joyo.com was founded in early 2000 by the Chinese entrepreneur Lei Jun in Beijing, China. The company primarily sold books and other media goods, shipping to customers nationwide. Joyo.com was renamed to “Amazon China” when sold to Amazon Inc in 2004 for US$75 Million. Amazon China cl

Amazon Pay is an online Payment service provider owned by Amazon. Launched in 2007, Amazon Pay uses the consumer base of Amazon.com and focuses on giving users the option to pay with their Amazon accounts on external merchant websites. Before Amazon Pay was functional in China, in 2008, Alipay entered into a cooperation with Amazon.cn to enable payments through Alipay's platform in order

America's Best Contacts & Eyeglasses is a discount provider of eye examinations, eyeglasses and contact lenses, with over 1000 retail locations in the United States as of May 31, 2024.

An American depositary receipt (abbreviated ADR, and sometimes spelled depository) is a negotiable security that represents securities of a foreign company and allows that company's shares to trade in the U.S. financial markets.

The American Investment Council (AIC), formerly the Private Equity Growth Capital Council (PEGCC), is a lobbying, advocacy, and research organization based in Washington, D.C., that was launched by a consortium of private equity firms in February 2007. It focuses on defending and promoting the private equity and growth capital investment industry to lawmakers and the public at large. Its

American Research & Development Corporation (ARD) was an American investment firm founded in Boston in 1946. Considered the first modern venture capital firm in the United States, the firm set industry precedents by combining institutional capital with professional selection and oversight of early-stage ventures.

Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) is a stock exchange private institution in Jordan, based in Amman.

Analytics is the systematic computational analysis of data or statistics. It is used for the discovery, interpretation, and communication of meaningful patterns in data, which also falls under and directly relates to the umbrella term, data science. Analytics also entails applying data patterns toward effective decision-making. It can be valuable in areas rich with recorded information;

Andrew Lee, also known as Dangun (born December 1983), is an American entrepreneur and the founder of the VPN service Private Internet Access, which started in 2010. Since 2023, he has been the self-proclaimed King of the non-territorial "Joseon Empire", recognized by Antigua and Barbuda as a successor state to Joseon and the Korean Empire; in the media, he is known as "Crown Prince of K

Andrey Yuryevich Bushev (Russian: Андрей Юрьевич Бушев; born 12 February 1966) is a Russian jurist and scholar of commercial law who currently serves as the judge of the Constitutional Court of Russia since 2022.

The Anglo Irish Bank hidden loans controversy (also known as the circular transactions controversy) began in Dublin in December 2008 when Seán FitzPatrick, the chairman of Anglo Irish Bank (the state's third-largest bank), admitted he had hidden a total of €87 million in loans from the bank, triggering a series of incidents which led to the eventual nationalisation of Anglo on 21 January

Ann Pettifor (born February 1947) is a British economist who advises governments and organisations. She has published several books. Her work focuses on the global financial system, sovereign debt restructuring, international finance and sustainable development. She was one of the leaders of the Jubilee 2000 debt cancellation campaign.

Anne Dias-Griffin is a French-American investor. She is the founder and chief executive officer of Aragon, an investment firm active in global equities, with a focus on the internet, technology, and consumer sectors, as well as alternative assets.

Annual percentage rate of charge (APR), corresponding sometimes to a nominal APR and sometimes to an effective APR (EAPR), is the interest rate for a whole year (annualized), rather than just a monthly fee/rate, as applied on a loan, mortgage loan, credit card, etc. It is a finance charge expressed as an annual rate. Those terms have formal, legal definitions in some countries or legal j

The anti-deprivation rule (also known as fraud upon the bankruptcy law) is a principle applied by the courts in common law jurisdictions (other than the United States) in which, according to Mellish LJ in Re Jeavons, ex parte Mackay, "a person cannot make it a part of his contract that, in the event of bankruptcy, he is then to get some additional advantage which prevents the property be

The Antigonish Movement blended adult education, co-operatives, microfinance and rural community development to help small, resource-based communities around Canada's Maritimes to improve their economic and social circumstances. A group of priests and educators, including Father Jimmy Tompkins, Father Moses Coady, Rev. Hugh MacPherson and A.B. MacDonald led this movement from a base at t

The antiquities trade is the exchange of antiquities and archaeological artifacts from around the world. This trade may be illicit or completely legal. The legal antiquities trade abides by national regulations, allowing for extraction of artifacts for scientific study whilst maintaining archaeological and anthropological context. The illicit antiquities trade involves non-scientific ext

Apptio, Inc. is a Bellevue, Washington-based company founded in 2007 that develops technology business management (TBM) software as a service (SaaS) applications. Apptio enterprise apps are designed to assess and communicate the cost of IT services for planning, budgeting and forecasting purposes; Apptio's services offer tools for CIOs to manage technology departments' storage, applicati

The Argentine debt restructuring is a process of debt restructuring by Argentina that began on January 14, 2005, and allowed it to resume payment on 76% of the US$82 billion in sovereign bonds that defaulted in 2001 at the depth of the worst economic crisis in the nation's history. A second debt restructuring in 2010 brought the percentage of bonds under some form of repayment to 93%, t

Aeronautical Radio, Incorporated (ARINC), established in 1929, was a major provider of transport communications and systems engineering solutions for eight industries: aviation, airports, defense, government, healthcare, networks, security, and transportation. ARINC had installed computer data networks in police cars and railroad cars and also maintained the standards for line-replaceabl

Arthur Dantchik (born 1957) is an American billionaire businessman and philanthropist who is a co-founder and the managing director of Susquehanna International Group, a Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania-based financial services firm founded in 1987. As of September 2026, Dantchik's net worth was estimated at $19.5 billion.

An assassination market is a prediction market where any party can place a bet (using anonymous electronic money and pseudonymous remailers) on the date of death of a given individual. This incentivises assassination of the individual, as parties with advance knowledge of an assassination plot can profit by betting accurately on the date of the death. Because the payoff is for accurately

Asset allocation is the implementation of an investment strategy that attempts to balance risk versus reward by adjusting the percentage of each asset in an investment portfolio according to the investor's risk tolerance, goals and investment time frame. The focus is on the characteristics of the overall portfolio. Such a strategy contrasts with an approach that focuses on individual as

Asset Recovery Interagency Network - Asia Pacific (ARIN-AP) is an informal network of experts and practitioners in the field of asset tracing, freezing and confiscation which intends to serve as a cooperative group in all aspects of tackling the proceeds of crime in the Asia-Pacific region.

In finance, an asset–liability mismatch occurs when the financial terms of an institution's assets and liabilities do not correspond. Several types of mismatches are possible. An asset-liability mismatch presents a material risk at institutions with significant debt exposure, such as banks or sovereign governments. A significant mismatch may lead to insolvency or illiquidity, which can c

The Association for the Taxation of Financial Transactions and for Citizens' Action (French: Association pour la Taxation des Transactions financières et pour l'Action Citoyenne, ATTAC) is an activist organisation originally created to promote the establishment of a tax on foreign exchange transactions.

The Association of African Central Banks is an international organization of central banks that promotes monetary, banking, and financial cooperation among its African member states.

The Association of German Public Banks (German: Bundesverband Öffentlicher Banken Deutschlands, generally referred to as VÖB) is a leading association within the German banking sector, bringing together most of the German public banking sector except the local-level savings banks (German: Sparkassen). Its membership includes 63 banks, including the Landesbanks that are also members of th

Assurant, Inc. is a global provider of risk management products and services with headquarters in Atlanta. Its businesses provide a diverse set of speciality, niche-market insurance products in the property, casualty, extended device protection, and insurance sectors. The company's main operating segments are Global Housing and Global Lifestyle.

At the Threshold of an Era (Chinese: 創世紀) was a Hong Kong epic drama series broadcast by TVB Jade Channel from 11 October to 18 December 1999 and 13 March to 26 May 2000 and was extensively promoted by TVB as its cross-millennium, one-hundred-episode-long epic. The series composed of two parts, with a gap in between airing.

Atlantic Money is a London-headquartered financial technology company that offers international money transfers for a fixed fee. The firm was founded in 2020 and officially launched in 2022 by two Americans, Neeraj Baid and Patrick Kavanagh, both early employees of the listed US financial services company Robinhood.

The ATM Industry Association (ATMIA), originally the ATM Owners Association, was established in 1997 in the United States as a global nonprofit trade association to service an industry that built around the global growth of the ATM.

Audience Response is a type of interaction associated with the use of online systems such as presentations to facilitate interaction between a presenter and their audience. Systems for co-located audiences combine Wireless hardware with presentation software. Systems for remote audiences may use telephones or web polls for audiences watching through television or the internet. Various na

An audit is an "independent examination of financial information of any entity, whether profit-oriented or not, irrespective of its size or legal form, when such an examination is conducted with a view to express an opinion thereon." Auditing also attempts to ensure that the books of accounts are properly maintained by such entities as required by law. Auditors consider the propositions