What Is an Attorney-in-Fact? An attorney-in-fact, also called an “agent,” is a person who is authorized to act on behalf of another person, known as the “principal,” typically to perform business or other official transactions. The principal usually designates someone as their attorney-in-fact by assigning them power of attorney, although a court may choose to
What Are Attorney’s Fee Awards? Attorney’s fee awards refer to the order of the payment of the attorney fees of one party by another party. In the U.S., each party in a legal case typically pays for their own attorney fees, under a principle known as the American rule. Key Takeaways Attorney’s fee awards are
What Is an Attorney’s Letter? An attorney’s letter is a formal business letter sent by a certified public accountant (CPA) to a client’s attorney. The attorney’s letter verifies the information sent by the management of a company pertaining to pending litigation of the company. The purpose of the attorney’s letter is to inform and certify
What Is Attrition in Business? The term attrition refers to a gradual but deliberate reduction in staff numbers that occurs as employees leave a company and are not replaced. It is commonly used to describe the downsizing of a firm’s employee pool by human resources (HR) professionals. In this case, downsizing is voluntary, where employees
What Is an Auction Market? In an auction market, buyers enter competitive bids and sellers submit competitive offers at the same time. The price at which a stock trades represents the highest price that a buyer is willing to pay and the lowest price that a seller is willing to accept. Matching bids and offers are
What Is Auction Rate? Auction rate is the interest rate that will be paid on a specific security as determined by a Dutch auction process. Key Takeaways An auction rate is an interest rate paid on a specific security as determined by a Dutch auction process.The U.S. Treasury runs auctions to help determine the interest
What Is AUD? AUD is the abbreviation for the Australian dollar. In the international currency market, the Australian dollar is also known as the Aussie dollar or just the Aussie. The AUD replaced the Australian pound in 1966. The Australian dollar is the official currency in Australia and in several independent countries and territories in
What Is an Audit? The term audit usually refers to a financial statement audit. A financial audit is an objective examination and evaluation of the financial statements of an organization to make sure that the financial records are a fair and accurate representation of the transactions they claim to represent. The audit can be conducted
What Is an Audit Committee? An audit committee is one of the major operating committees of a company’s board of directors that is in charge of overseeing financial reporting and disclosure. All U.S. publicly-traded companies must maintain a qualified audit committee in order to be listed on a stock exchange. Committee members must be made
What Is an Audit Cycle? An audit cycle is the accounting process that auditors employ in the review of a company’s financial statements and related information. An audit cycle includes the steps that an auditor takes to ensure that the company’s financial information is valid. The audit cycle can call for different tasks to be
