The 150 most useful Business English abbreviations

This is a list of essential acronyms and other abbreviations for people studying Business English. There are also similar lists of general English elsewhere on this site. 

1. a/c – account
2. ad – advertisement
3. advert – advertisement
4. AGM – annual general meeting (= shareholders’ meeting)
5. AOB – any other business (= anything else that needs to be discussed)
6. approx. – approximately (= around/ about/ more or less)
7. APR – annual percentage rate (interest, for example of a credit card)
8. asap/ ASAP – as soon as possible
9. ATB – All the best (closing greeting of an email)
10. attn. – attention/ for the attention of
11. B2B – business to business
12. B/L – bill of lading
13. BCC – blind carbon copy
14. BoD – board of directors
15. BoE – Bank of England
16. BR – Best regards
17. BW – Best wishes (informal closing greeting of an email)
18. CC – carbon copy (meaning copying someone in when you send an email)
19. CEO – chief executive officer
20. CFO – chief financial officer
21. CIF – cost, insurance and freight
22. CIO – chief investment officer/ chief information officer
23. Co./ (and) Co. – (and) Company
24. c/o – care of
25. CoD – cash on delivery
26. COO – chief operating officer
27. co-op – cooperative
28. Corp. – Corporation
29. CPA – certified public accountant
30. CPI – consumer price index (an inflation figure)
31. CRM – customer relationship management
32. CSR – corporate social responsibility
33. CTO – chief technology officer
34. CV – curriculum vitae (= résumé)
35. demo – (political/ product) demonstration
36. dept. – department (written abbreviation)
37. DTI – Department of Trade and Industry
38. EBITDA – earning before interests, taxes, depreciation and amortization
39. enc. – enclosed (like “attached” but meaning inside an envelope)
40. ETA – estimated time of arrival (also used for information, etc)
41. EU – European Union
42. exec(s) – executive(s)
43. expo – exposition
44. F/T – full time
45. FAO – for the attention of
46. FAQ – frequently asked question(s)
47. FCA – Financial Conduct Authority
48. fig.– figure, as in “figure 1”
49. fin tech – financial technology
50. forex/ FX – foreign exchange
51. FSA – Financial Services Authority
52. FT – Financial Times
53. FTA – free trade agreement
54. FTSE – Financial Times Stock Exchange (index)
55. FY – financial year (as in FY2018)
56. fwd/ FWD – forward/ forwarded (meaning “send on/ sent on”)
57. FYI – (just) for your information
58. GBP – (Great British) pounds
59. GDP – gross domestic product
60. GM – general manager/ General Motors
61. GMT – Greenwich Mean Time
62. GNP – gross national product
63. GST – goods and services tax
64. HM Treasury – Her Majesty’s Treasury/ His Majesty’s Treasury (the finance ministry of the UK)
65. HMRC – Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs/ His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs
66. HP – hire purchase
67. HQ – headquarters (= head office) (not “headquarter” X)
68. HR (department) – human resources (department) (= personnel department) (not “human resource” X)
69. Inc./ inc. – Incorporated/ including…
70. info – information
71. IoT – the internet of things
72. IOU – I owe you
73. IP – intellectual property
74. IPO – initial public offering
75. IRS – Internal Revenue Service
76. ISA – Individual Savings Account
77. ISP – internet service provider
78. KPI – key performance indicators
79. LIBOR – London Interbank Offered Rate
80. LNG – liquid natural gas
81. LSE – London School of Economics and Political Science/ London Stock Exchange
82. Ltd – limited (company/ liability company)
83. M&A – mergers and acquisition
84. m/ M – million (as in $15m)
85. max – maximum
86. MBA – Master of Business Administration
87. MD – managing director
88. memo – memorandum (meaning an internal document, usually a group email and usually telling or reminding people what to do – the longer expression is rarely used with this meaning)
89. MENA – Middle East and North Africa
90. mil – millimetres/ million
91. min – minimum (= at least)/ minute(s) (written abbreviation)
92. mod cons – modern conveniences
93. N/A – not applicable
94. NAFTA – North American Free Trade Association
95. NB – From Latin “nota bene” meaning “note well” (= “Please note that…”)
96. NI – Northern Ireland (written abbreviation)/ national insurance (number)
97. NSFW – not safe for work
98. NYSE – New York Stock Exchange
99. O/T – overtime (written abbreviation)
100. OA – office automation
101. Ofcom – Office of Communications (the UK regulator for TV etc)
102. P/E (ratio) – price to earnings ratio
103. P&L – profit and loss (accounts)
104. p.p. – on behalf of (used at the bottom of letters and emails when someone, e.g. an assistant, writes something for someone else)
105. p&p – postage and packing
106. P/T – part time
107. PA – per annum (= per year)/ public address (system)/ personal assistant
108. PAYE – pay as you earn
109. PIN (number) – personal identification number
110. PLC – public limited company
111. PO box (no) – post office box (number)
112. (if) poss. – (if) possible
113. PR – public relations
114. PS – post scriptum (from Latin, used for extra information after the end of an email, similar to “btw”)
115. PTO – please turn over (the page for more information/ for comments)
116. Q&A (session) – question and answer (session, usually meaning the final part of a presentation)
117. Q1/ Q2/ Q3/ Q4 – first quarter/ second quarter/ third quarter/ fourth quarter
118. QE – quantitative easing (an economic policy used after the 2007 recession)
119. R&D (research and development)
120. re: – regarding (meaning “concerning”, “about” and so not only used to mean “reply”)
121. (my/ our/ your) ref – (my/ our/ your) reference
122. REIT – real estate investment trust
123. RFID – radio frequency identification (device)
124. ROE – return on equity
125. ROI/ RoI – return on investment
126. RRP – recommended retail price
127. rules and regs – rules and regulations
128. sales rep – sales representative (= salesman/ sales executive)
129. SEC – Securities and Exchange Commission
130. SEO – search engine optimization
131. SFO – the Serious Fraud Office
132. SME – small and medium(-sized) enterprise
133. specs – specifications
134. SWOT (analysis) – strengths weaknesses opportunities (and) threats
135. TBA/ TBC/ TBD – to be announced/ to be arranged/ to be announced/ to be confirmed/ to be decided/ to be determined
136. tech – technology
137. telecoms – telecommunications
138. teleconference – telephone conference
139. temp – temporary (staff/ worker)
140. thnx/ thx – thanks
141. TM – trademark
142. TQM – total quality management
143. union – trade union/ labor union
144. USD – US dollars
145. USP – (unique) selling points
146. VAS – value added services
147. VAT – value added tax (a kind of sales tax/ consumption tax)
148. VP – vice president
149. w/o – without
150. YTD – year to date

Now you've learned the 150 most useful Business English abbreviations you might also be interested in our lists of vital business meetings, telephoning language and emailing language - essential phrases for business communication:

• The 100 most useful phrases for business meetings
• The 100 most useful telephoning phrases
• The 100 most useful emailing phrases