Oxford Business English Dictionary for Learners of English

absence /'aebsans/ noun

see also: leave of absence absences from work о The decision was made in my absence {= while I was not there). 2 [u] the fact of sb/sth not existing or not being available; a lack of sth: We may have to sell the business to them in the absence of a higher offer, о the absence of any women on the board of directors

absentee /.aebsan'ti:/ noun [C] {HR) a person who is not at work when they should be: Why are there so many absentees today? о an astonishingly low 2% absentee rate

absenteeism /.aebsan'tiazam/ noun [U] {HR) staying away from work, especially often and without good reasons: Absenteeism costs the industry millions of dollars every year, о There is a high level of absenteeism in this department. -» presenteeism

.absolute ad'vantage noun [c, usually sing.] {Economics) the ability to make a product more cheaply than other countries can -» comparative

advantage, competitive advantage

.absolute 'auction noun [c] {AmE) {Commerce) an auction in which there is no fixed price that must be reached before the item can be sold, so that sth is simply sold to the person who offers the most money

absorb /8b'so:b; -'zo:b; AmE-'so:rb; -'zo:rb/ verb [+obj]

{often be absorbed) to take a smaller business into a larger one so that it becomes part of it; to take unemployed workers from other businesses into a company: Several large clothing chains were absorbed into the group, о a scheme to absorb workers from failing industries

to be able to deal with high costs, losses or changes without showing any bad effects: The company has absorbed the higher manufacturing costs rather than pass them on to its customers.

(about a market) to accept and be able to sell a product: It would take the market three or four years to absorb the increase in the number of hotel rooms. -> accept (6)

to use up a large supply of sth, especially money or time: The new proposals would absorb $80 million of the federal budget.

absorption /ab'so^Jn; -'zo:p-; AmE-'so:rp-; -'zo:rp-/ noun [u]

the act of a larger company taking in a smaller company so that it becomes part of it: The mergers they planned included the absorption of two small banks.

ab'sorption .costing noun [u] (Accounting) a way of calculating the cost of a product by including all costs involved in producing it and running the business, such as raw materials, rent, electricity or wages Isyni full costing

abstract /'aebstraekt/ noun [c] a short piece of writing containing the main ideas in a talk, an article, a report, etc: The search engine searches through 13 million abstracts from marketing journals. Hyn] summary

a/c = account

ACAS /'eikaes/ abbr Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service in the UK, an organization that helps employers and employees settle disagreements: to refer a dispute to ACAS

accelerate /ak'selareit/ verb

[+ obj or no obj] to happen or to make sth happen faster or earlier than expected: Technological change is accelerating, о The company has announced it is accelerating its cost-cutting programme. IoppI decelerate

[no obj] (about the economy) to increase in activity so that demand for goods increases: Will consumption slow before the global economy starts to accelerate? (oppI decelerate 3 (Finance) [+ obj] to demand that a debt is paid back at once or more quickly than first agreed, because the person who has borrowed the money has failed to make regular payments: Their major investor is now seeking to accelerate the loan. ► acceleration /ak.sela'reijn/ noun [sing; и]: a sharp acceleration in the rate of economic growth

accelerated 'cost recovery .system noun [U] {abbr ACRS)

[Accounting) in the US, a way of calculating the value of assets in a company's financial records, where the value of an asset is reduced over a particular period of time fixed by the tax rules, rather than over its full useful life