Accounting Terminology

[Roxlintu]

Hi

I've lived in Finland for about 6 months now and I'm studying in the immigrant homing programme. I am a tax accountant (ex-HMIT) by trade and I will reluctantly try and pursue a career in accounting here. My problem is that my language course doesn't come close to teaching me the vocabulary I need to deal with accounts and the accounting language courses run by the työvoimatoimisto are heavily oversubscribed and I am told I could wait up to 3 years for a space. I don't have the money for private courses.

All I really want is a dictionary! English to Finnish accounting terminology. Of course I have googled but the lists I have found have not been long enough and haven not even contained something as simple as 'profit and loss account'. I am hoping that some kind soul on the forum will know the whereabouts of such a dictionary online or even one that can be purchased from a book store. Or maybe one of you is an accounting/bookkeeping student and has access to a dictionary.

Anyway, thank you all for your time. I keep my fingers crossed.

R

[Upphew]

http://ilmainensanakirja.fi/sanakirja/p ... %20account ?

[Rosamunda]

Where do you live?

Suggestions:

1. Go to your nearest public library and ask. Librarians love a challenge and I'm sure they would be really happy to help you find the book you need and /or order it in for you.

2. If you are in Helsinki, go to the Akateeminen bookstore (Stockmann) upstairs and ask the customer assistants working there. If the only books you can find are too expensive then make a note of the ISBN numbers and go back to the library.

3. As (2) but try the university library.

4. Download the Annual Reports of public companies from the internet (eg Stockmann, Kone, Neste Oil, Nordea etc etc) in both the Finnish and the English versions and compare the two side by side.

I have an Business English textbook called "Big Deal" published by Edita ISBN 951-37-3453-6 which contains glossaries and an annexe of the Finnish terms and their English equivalents. But it is an expensive book ( IIRC >50€) and quite frankly I think you can probably find something better. Big Deal is a bit dodgy in that it gives literal translations of Finnish accounting terms rather than explaining the differences between Finnish and English terms (eg the P&L has a line called 'Change in inventories of Finished goods and WIP' , rather than 'Cost of Goods Sold'). I would suggest using some kind of an accounting manual rather than a dictionary because you need to understand the terms rather than just 'know' them. Depreciation is another example: it's not enough to use a dictionary (poistot) you need to understand the totally whacky ways that Finns depreciate fixed assets to infinity and beyond .

There must be someone from Hanken or HSE on here who could give you a book list.

[Roxlintu]

Thanks for the advice, that is a really good idea about downloading the reports and comparing them, I was using a dictionary to translate each word in a compound and getting some very strange results. I have managed to work out a few words from reading definitions in Finnish but some of the language is still a bit complicated!

I will also head down to Riihimäki's library next time I get home early enough.

Thanks for the kind reply, some of the other posters can be a bit prickly

[Sakari]

You could try sending a query to Turku's School of Economics book store, Wanha Narikka, if they sell and deliver via mail. They sell a great little booklet called "Finnish-English-Finnish glossary of accounting terms" or something like that. It only costs 3-4 euros.

[Rosamunda]

You could try sending a query to Turku's School of Economics book store, Wanha Narikka, if they sell and deliver via mail. They sell a great little booklet called "Finnish-English-Finnish glossary of accounting terms" or something like that. It only costs 3-4 euros.

Thanks a million Sakari! That is definitely something I need to add to my collection!

[Roxlintu]

Thanks for the advice, I have emailed the bookstore asking if i can get that book , if they can't post then I am sure my friend would pick up a copy from Turku. I also went to the library last night, the best we could find was the book that Penelope mentioned - Big Deal. I managed to get about 5 pages translated with the help of that book! But.. I am stuck on some and I am going to paste them here in the hope that some kind soul can translate them for me because I have literally started pulling my hair out

And can anyone tell me what kohdenumero means? I figured it to be costcentre number but i don't trust my judgement anymore..

Anway here comes the text...
Jaksotetut projektitulot
Kuukausittain projektille kirjattu ennakoitu tulo.
Kirjaus perustuu projektille kertyneisiin kustannuksiin ja tukiprosenttiin (hankkkeen menot * tukiprosentti). Ennakoidut tulokirjaukset puretaan, kun tehdään maksatushakemus.

Jaettavat projektipalkat -kohde
Käytetään niiden henkilöiden kohdalla, jotka tekevät suunnitelman mukaisesti töitä projektille ja joiden kk-palkka jaetaan prosentuaalisesti.
Jos henkilön palkkaa kohdennetaan esim. 40 %:a toisessa koulutusohjelmassa olevalle projektille, pitää käyttää henkilön oman koulutusohjelman jaettavat projektipalkat –kohdetta. Palkkaa ei saa kohdentaa sen koulutusohjelman jaettavat projektipalkat –kohteelle, jossa kyseinen projekti on.

Toteutuneet palkkakustannukset kohdennetaan projektikohteelle tuntiseurannan mukaisesti hyvittäen jaettavat projektipalkat kohdetta.

TALOUSARVIO JA TALOUSSUUNNITELMA
Kuntayhtymän budjetti. Talousarvio kattaa seuraavan vuoden ja taloussuunnitelma 3 vuotta.

Käyttötalousosa
Talousarvion käyttötalousosassa yhtymävaltuusto asettaa toiminnalliset tavoitteet sekä osoittaa määrärahat talousarviovastuullisille tehtävän tai tehtävien hoitamiseen.

Tuloslaskelmaosa
Tuloslaskelmaosa osoittaa, kuinka tulorahoitus riittää toiminnan menoihin ja sekä poistoihin. Tuloslaskelman tiedot summautuvat käyttötalousosan laskelmista

Rahoituslaskelmaosa
Rahoitusosassa osoitetaan kuinka paljon tarvitaan tulorahoituksen lisäksi pääomarahoitusta investointeihin ja mahdollisiin lainanlyhennyksiin ja miten rahoitustarve katetaan tai kuinka suuri on rahoitusjäämä ja miten se käytetään. Rahoituslaskelmaosassa kaikki kolme edellä olevaa erää nivoutuu yhteen

Investointiosa
Talousarvion investointiosassa yhtymävaltuusto hyväksyy määrärahat investointihankkeille. Kuntayhtymän aktivointiraja 8.500 €.


Any help, no matter how small is much appreciated!
Thanks in advance for your help.
R

[Pursuivant]

Well as kohde is target then kohdenumero is... whatever number the target has... so costcentre number probably yes.

*nice* text... I'm getting the hives already.

Jaksotetut projektitulot sequenced project revenues
Kuukausittain projektille kirjattu ennakoitu tulo. monthly entries of expected revenue on project
Kirjaus perustuu projektille kertyneisiin kustannuksiin ja tukiprosenttiin (hankkkeen menot * tukiprosentti). entry is based on the expenses accrued on the project and subsidy percentage (expense x percentage )
Ennakoidut tulokirjaukset puretaan, kun tehdään maksatushakemus. The expected revenue entries are dissolved when a payment application is made.

Of course I don't know the proper terminology in English.

[Rosamunda]

I'll get my SO to take a quick look at it this evening. Between us, we can probably crack it for you!!! Some terms are "company-specific", different companies call the same thing by different names (usually depending on their applications... SAP terminology etc) and on US vs. GB and things like that. In the company where I used to work we allocated revenues and costs to projects (project number) in some businesses but other costs (eg some overheads) were booked directly to cost centres then allocated to projects. So, the language depends on the company's structure, politics and the applications they are using.

[Roxlintu]

Ah bless you all! I feel some hope creeping back in Sometimes I feel like giving up with this language but then I say something Finnish and I am understood and I start feeling like I'm not a moron afterall!

[Pursuivant]

That stinks like some TE-keskus or AEL accounting. Magic word is kuntayhtymä. So its government jargon in there words like maksatushakemus that you can find in a terminology dictionary off KELA.

[Vesper]

try google translate it works wonders..... http://translate.google.com/?hl=en&sl=fi&tl=en
it translated most of that text except for the sub-titles. (guessing those might be the accounting words you are talking about)

Differentiated project revenue
Monthly project entered the anticipated income.
Entry is based on the accumulated project costs and the subsidy rate (hankkkeen expenditure * subsidy rate). The projected revenue accounting entries will be dismantled when you do the application.

To be shared between the salaries of project-target
For use in cases of persons who make the plan work in accordance with the project and whose monthly salary allocated percentage.
If a person's wages are targeted, for example 40% of a second training program for the project, must use the person's own training program to be shared between the salaries of the project item. Salary may not be allocated to a training program to be shared between the salaries of the project-the subject in which the project is.

Actual salary costs allocated to the project for one hour in accordance with the monitoring crediting the project to be shared between the salaries of the item.

Budget and financial plan
Local government budget. The budget covers the next year and taloussuunnitelma 3 years.

Käyttötalousosa
The budget of the Economic Section of the Council to set operational objectives and to demonstrate allocation talousarviovastuullisille task or tasks.

Tuloslaskelmaosa
Tuloslaskelmaosa shows how the profit is sufficient activity and expenditure, and depreciation. Profit and loss information on additive use of economic calculations

Rahoituslaskelmaosa
Financial Section indicating how much cash is needed in addition to capital funding for investment and the potential lainanlyhennyksiin and how the resources of cover, or how large is the balance and how it is used. Cash Flow Part of all three of the above to the lot of the tandem

Investointiosa
The budget of the investment group of Governors approves allocations for investment projects. Municipal activation limit 8500 €.

[Rosamunda]

Yeah, who needs translators when google can do it for free...?

[Pursuivant]

except for the sub-titles. (guessing those might be the accounting words you are talking about)

Yes well you needs to decompound

Käyttötalous osa
Tuloslaskelma osa
Rahoituslaskelma osa
Investointi osa

The use of part of
Profit and loss of
Cash flow statement of
The investment part of

hmmm...
Käyttö talous osa Use of Economic

I'd say "daily usage" for that one.

[Pursuivant]

talousarvio vastuullisille
budget of the responsible

for those responsible of the budget