Funeral Home Management

Total Quality Mangement (TQM)

The efforts of all members of an organization directed to ensure that quality in the production of goods and services is achieved.

Consumerism

The emphasis placed on providing to customers products and services that are safe, reliable and honestly advertised; also, a social movement that seeks to strengthen the rights of consumers relative to sellers.

Replacement Value Approach

The fair market price to purchase similar assets.

Conflicted Family Pattern

The family pattern in which the family members work against one another instead of together.

Collaborative

The family pattern in which the family members work together.

Patriarchal

The family pattern in which the father is in charge.

Matriarchal

The family pattern in which the mother is in charge.

Board of Directors

The governing body that is elected by the stockholders of a corporation.

Break-Even Analysis

The point at which total sales revenue equals total costs.

Competition

The practice of trying to obtain something that is being sought by others under similar circumstances at the same time.

Small Business Administration (SBA)

The principal government agency concerned with the financing, operation and management of small businesses.

Recruitment

The process of forming a pool of qualified applicants for tasks that need to be filled.

Marketing

The process of planning and executing the development, pricing, promotion, and distribution of an organization's goods or services.

Economic Order Quantity (EOQ)

The quantity to be purchased which minimizes total costs.

Patent

The registered right of an inventor to make, use and sell an invention.

Copyright

The registered right of creator to reproduce, publish and sell the work which is the product of the intelligence and skill of that person.

Partnership

The voluntary association of two ormore people who have combined their resources to carry on as co-owners of a lawful enterprise for their joint profit.

Corporate Refugees

Thos individuals who flee the bureaucratic environment of big business by going into business for themselves.

Intangible Asset

Those assets that cannot be touched or grasped (examples include patents, copyrights and goodwill).

Inventory (Merchandise)

Those goods or stock of goods which are held for resale at a profit.

Merchandise

Those goods or stock of goods which are held for resale at a profit.

Organizing

To arrange or constitute in interdependent parts, each having a specific function or relation with respect to the whole;the arrangement and distribution of work among members of an organization.

Proprietorship

A business owned by one person who is subject to claims of creditors.

Manufacturing Business

A business that makes finished goods from raw materials by hand or machinery.

Service Business

A business that provides a service as opposed to a product.

Merchandising Business

A business that purchases finished goods for resale.

Earnings Valuation Approach

A business valuation approach which centers on estimating the amount of potential income that may be produced by the business in the next year.

Small Business

A business which is independently owned and operated and is not dominant in it's field of operations.

Coinsurance Clause

A clause in an insurance policy under which the insured agrees to maintain insurance equal to some specified percentage of the property value or others=wise to assume a portion of any loss.

Universal Life Insurance

A combination of whole life insurance and term life insurance.

Fixed Expenses

A cost that, for a given period of time and rage of activity called the relevant range, does not change in total but becomes progressively smaller on a per unit basis as volume increases; these expenses do not increase with increased business, nor do they decrease with declining business activity.

Variable Expense

A cost which is uniform per unit, but fluctuates in total in direct proportion to change in the related total activity or volume.

Job Specification

A document that lists the knowledge, skills, abilities, and personal characteristics a job holder must possess to perform effectively.

Job Description

A document that lists the major responsibilities and tasks of the job.

Trade Credit

A form of credit that is extended by one business to another business to help finance distribution of producer's goods.

Self-Insurance

A form of risk management whereby a part of the firm's earnings is earmarked as a contingency fund for possible future losses, specifically afor individual loss categories such as property, medical or worker's compensation.

Sole Proprietorships

A legal form of organization whereby the business is owned and operated by one person.

Open End Credit (Revolving Account)

A line of credit that may be used over and over again up to a certain borrowing limit.

Average Collection Period

A measure of the accounts receivable turnover.

ABC Method

A method of classifying inventory items with categories which are of high-value, less costly, and/or low-cost items.

Limited Partner

A partner in a limited parnership who is not active in the management and has limited personal liability.

Artisan Entrepreneur

A person who starts a business with primarily technical skills and little business knowledge.

Tangible Assets

A physical asset that possesses genuine value.

Sales Promotion

A plan which provides inducements to potential purchases of products and/or services.

Markdown

A reduction of selling price below the original selling price.

Market Survey

A study that is used by a business to determine where the potential customers are located.

Disaster

A sudden misfortune, resulting in the loss of life and/or property.

Consumer Credit

A type of credit granted by retailers that is used by individuals or families for satisfaction of their own wants.

Corporation Charter

A written application for permission to incorporate that is approved by a state official.

Articles of Partnership

A written document that states explicitly the rights and duties of partners in a partnership

Corporation

An artificial being, invisible, intangible and existing only in contemplation of law; an entity that is something that has a distinct existence separate and apart from the existence of its individual members.

General Manager

An entrepreneur who functions as an administrator of a business.

Business Interruption Insurance

An insurance that protects companies during the period necessary to restore property damaged by an insured peril.

Goodwill

An intangible asset such as the name of a funeral home; also, an intangible asset which enables a business to earn a profit in excess of the normal rate of profit earned by other businesses of the same kind.

Trademark

An intangible asset that is a distinct name, sign, or symbol that the federal govenment grants exclusive rights to use for a specified period of time.

Venture Capitalist

An investor or investment group that commits money to new business ventures.

Business

An organization that combines inputs of raw materials, capital, labor, and management skills to produce useful outputs of goods and services so as to earn a profit.

Debt Equity (Debt Capital, Borrowed Capital)

Any borrowed or loaned capital invested in the business that must be repaid to creditors.

Better Business Bureau

Association of business firms that promotes ethical conduct by all business firms in a community.

Installment Credit (Closed End Credit)

Balance of costly goods paid for in small monthly (fractional) payments over a period of time.

Equity Capital (Personal Capital)

Capital that is invested in the business by the owner(s).

Personal Capital (Equity Capital)

Capital that is invested in the business by the owner(s).

Human Resource Forecast

Determining personnel needs in terms of numbers of individuals and their required skills.

Overhead

Expenses incurred in the normal operation of a business.

Immigration Reform Act

Federal legislation requiring employers to check job applicants' papers to be sure they are either U.S. citizens or aliens quthorized to work in the U.S.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Federal legislation that prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or nation origin.

Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA)

Federal legistlation that mandates that employers provide a workplace that is free from hazards likely to cause death or serious physical harm.

General Liability Insurance

Insurance covering business liability to customers who might be injured on or off premises or from the product sold to them.

Buy-Sell Life Insurance

Insurance on an owner of a business that will supply enough money for a partner to buy his share of the business on death.

Deductible Clause

Insurance policy provision that makes the insurer liable only for losses in excess of the stated deductible.

Liability Insurance

Insurance that covers business liability to customers of others who might be injured from the product sold to them.

Endowment Life Insurance

Life insurance that allows the insured, rather than the beneficiary, to collect the face value of the policy upon maturity or to collect that value in annual payments.

Whole Life Insurance

Life insurance that gives lifetime protection to the insured person.

Term Life Insurance

Life insurance that has no cash value whenever the ploidy expires.

Fixed Capital

Long-term capital that is invested in the small business; also, funds invested in such long-term assets as: land, building, machinery, furniture, fixtures and other equipment.

Factoring

Obtaining cash before payments are received from customers by selling of one's accounts receivables to a third party.

Entrepreneur

One who organizes, manages, and assumes the risk of a business firm or venture.

Equal Pay Act

Outlaws discrimination in pay against those who are over forty years old.

Angels

Private owners who are willing to supply financing for new and/or risky small venture start-ups.

Actuating (Directing)

Regulating the activities or course of activities of an organization; to guide and /or supervise the activities of an organization.

Delegation of Authority

Superior's act of granting to subordinates, on the basis of competence, the right to act or decide.

Planning

That function of determining in advance what needs to be accomplished in order to achieve a particular goal.

Circulating Capital (Working Capital)

The DIFFERENCE between current assets and current liabilities.

Equal Credit Opportunity Act

The absence of discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin.

Equal Employment Opportunity

The absence of employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin.

Capital

The amount by which the total assets EXCEEDS the total liabilities of a business; an owner's financial interest in a business.

Liquidation Value (Market Value) Approach

The anticipated value of an asset that would be realized in case of liquidation of the business.

Advertising

The art of making the public aware of the services or commodities that a business has for sale.

Paper Board of Directors

The business governance board which exists only on paper and never holds true meetings.

Advisory Board

The business governance board which helps make major decisions for the funeral home, buy does not deal with the daily operations.

Overseer Board

The business governance board which makes most decisions for a family funeral home, including the decisions made during the daily operations.

Participative

The business pattern in which all family members participate in the operations, decisions or profits of the funeral home.

Professional Business Pattern

The business pattern in which the family funeral home is completed oriented toward the business and not family.

Laissez-fare

The business pattern in which the family members do not interfere with each other's departments or responsibilities.

Paternalistic

The business pattern in which the parent is in control.

Book Value

The cost of a FIXED asset LESS accumulated depreciation.

Working Capital (Circulating Capital)

The difference between current assets and current liabilities.

Markup

The difference between merchandise cost and selling price, i.e., gross margin.