Authorized capital - see capital stock. 
Average Cost - Total cost of shares divided by the numbers of shares held

Balance sheet - A formal statement of the financial position of a company on a particular day, normally presented to shareholders once a year. 
Bear market - Term used to describe market conditions when share prices are declining. 
Board lot - One hundred shares. 
Bond - An agreement to pay a certain amount of interest over a given period of time. 
Bull market - Term used to describe financial market conditions when share prices are going up. 

Call - An option to buy shares at a specified price. The opposite of a "put". 
Capitalization - A financial term used to describe the value financial markets put on a company. Determined by multiplying the number of outstanding shares of a company by the current stock price. 
Capital stock - The total ownership of a limited liability company divided among a specified number of shares. 
Cash flow - The net of the inflow and outflow of cash during an accounting period. Does not account for depreciation or bookkeeping write-offs which do not involve an actual cash outlay. 
Charter - A document issued by a governing authority creating a company or other corporation. 
Chartered bank - A financial institution that accepts deposits and provides loans. 
Common stock - Shares in a company which have full voting rights which the holders use to control the company in common with each other. There is no fixed or assured dividend as with preferred shares, which have first claim on the distribution of a company's earnings or assets. 
Confirmation - A form delivered by a broker to the client, setting forth the details of stock sales or purchases for the client. 
Cum-dividend - Buyer entitled to pending dividend payment. 
Current assets - Assets of company which can and are likely to be converted into cash within a year. Includes cash, marketable securities, accounts receivable and supplies. 
Current liabilities - A company's debts that are payable within a year's time. 
 

Day order - An order to buy or sell shares, good only on the day the order was entered. 
Debenture - See bonds. 
Debt financing - Method of raising capital whereby companies borrow money from a lending institution. 
Deferred charges - Expenses incurred but not charged against the current year's operation. 
Depletion - An accounting device, used primarily in tax computations. It recognizes the consumption of an ore deposit, a mine's principal asset. 
Depreciation - The periodic, systematic charging to expense of plant assets reflecting the decline in economic potential of the assets.
Dilution (of shares) - A decrease in the value of a company's shares caused by the issue of treasury shares. 
Discount - The minimum price below the par value at which treasury shares may legally be sold. 
Dividend - Cash or stock awarded to preferred and common shareholders at the discretion of the company's board of directors. 
Dividend claim - Made when a dividend has been paid to the previous holder because stock has not yet been transferred to the name of the new owner.
Due diligence - ('DD') The degree of care and caution required before making a decision; loosely, a financial and technical investigation to determine whether an investment is sound. 

Equity financing - The provision of funds by buying shares. 
Escrowed shares - Shares deposited in trust pending fulfilment of certain conditions, and not ordinarily available to trading until released. 
Ex-dividend - On stocks selling "ex-dividend", the seller retains the right to a pending dividend payment. 
Exchange Traded Funds - 

Fixed Assets - Possessions such as buildings, machinery and land which, as opposed to current assets, are unlikely to be converted into cash during the normal business cycle. 
Flow-through shares - Shares in an exploration company that allow the tax deduction or credits for mineral exploration to be passed to the investor. 

Gold loan - A form of debt financing whereby a potential gold producer borrows gold from a lending institution, sells the gold on the open market, uses the cash for mine development, then pays back the gold from actual mine production. 
Gross value royalty - A share of gross revenue from the sale of minerals from a mine. 

Hedging - Taking a buy or sell position in a futures market opposite to a position held in the cash market to minimize the risk of financial loss from an adverse price change. 
Holding company - A corporation engaged principally in holding a controlling interest in one or more other companies. 

Initial public offering (IPO) - The first sale of shares to the public, usually by subscription from a group of investment dealers. 
Institutional investors - Pension funds and mutual funds, managing money for a large number of individual investors. 

Limit order - An order made by a client to a broker to buy or sell shares at a specified price or better. 
London fix - The twice-daily bidding session held by five dealing companies to set the gold price. There are also daily London fixes to set the prices of other precious metals. 
London Metals Exchange (LME) - A major bidding market for base metals, which operates daily in London. 
Long position - Securities owned outright or carried on margin. 

Margin - Cash deposited with a broker as partial payment of the purchase price for any type of listed stock. The stock is held by the broker as security for the loan. 
Market order - An order to buy or sell at the best price available. In absence of any specified price or limit, an order is considered to be "at the market". 

Net profit interest - A portion of the profit remaining after all charges, including taxes and bookkeeping charges, such as depreciation, have been deducted. 
Net smelter return - A share of the net revenues generated from the sale of metal produced by a mine. 
Net worth - The difference between total assets and total liabilities. 

Odd lot - A block of shares that is less than a board lot. 
Open order - An order to buy or sell stock, which is good until cancelled by the client. 
Option (on stock) - The right to buy or sell a share at a set price, regardless of market value. (see Put, Call)

Participating interest - A company's interest in a mine, which entitles it to a certain percentage of profits in return for putting up an equal percentage of the capital cost of the project. 
Par value - The stated face value of a stock. Par value shares have no specified face value, but the total amount of authorized capital is set down in the company's charter. 
Pooling shares - See escrowed shares.
Portfolio - A list of financial assets. 
Preferred shares - Shares of a limited liability company that rank ahead of common shares, but after bonds, in distribution of earnings or in claim to the company's assets in the event of liquidation. They pay a fixed dividend but normally do not have voting rights, as with common shares. 
Price-to-earnings ratio - The current market price of a stock divided by the company's net earnings per share for the year. 
Private placement - ('PP') Sale of shares to individuals or corporations outside the normal market, at a negotiated price. Often used to raise capital for a junior exploration company. 
Pro rata - In proportion, usually to ownership, income or contribution. 
Profit and loss statement - The income statement of a company detailing revenues minus total costs to give total profit. 
Prospectus - A document filed with the appropriate securities commission detailing the activities and financial condition of a company seeking funds from the public through the issuance of shares. 
Proxy - A power of attorney given by the shareholder so that his stock may be voted by his nominee(s) at shareholders' meetings. 
Put - An option to sell a stock at an agreed upon price within a specified time. The owner can present his put to the contracting broker at any time within the option period and compel him to buy the stock. 
Pyramiding - The use of increased buying power to increase ownership arising from price appreciation. 

Record date - The date by which a shareholder must be registered on the books of a company in order to receive a declared dividend, or to vote on company affairs, or to receive benefits of a spinoff. 
Rights - In finance, a certified right to purchase treasury shares in stated quantities, prices and time limits; usually negotiable at a price which is related to the prices of the issue represented; also referred to as warrants. Rights and warrants can be bought and sold prior to their expiry date because not all shareholders wish to exercise their rights. 
Risk - No matter what you invest in there is an inherent level of risk associated with ALL investments. If you choose to be ultra conservative and invest in GIC’s then you are assuming inflationary and income generating risk. Investing in bonds can contain as much risk as stocks at times. 
Rule of 72 - The rule of 72 is one of those rules of thumb for quick and basic calculation. Take the rate of return and divide it into 72. This will be the approximate amount of time it takes for the money to double at the specified rate of return. For example, if you assume a 12% rate of return and divide 72 by 12 then your money would double in 6 years. 
 

Short selling - The borrowing of stock from a broker in order to sell it in the hope that it may be purchased at a lower price later on. 
Spot price - Current delivery price of a commodity traded in the spot market. 
Stock exchange - An organized market concerned with the buying and selling of common and preferred shares and warrants by stockbrokers who own seats on the exchange and meet membership requirements. 
Stop-loss order - An arrangement whereby a client gives his broker instructions to sell a stock if and when its price drops to a specified figure on the market. 
Street certificate - A certificate representing ownership in a specified number of shares that is registered in the name of some previous owner who has endorsed the certificate so that it may be transferred to a new owner without referral to transfer agent. 
Subsidiary company - A company in which the majority of shares (a controlling position) is held by another company. 

Trading floor - the area of a stock exchange building where shares are bought and sold. 
Trading post - An area on the trading floor of a stock exchange where current stock prices are listed and where the floor traders (representatives of brokerage firms) meet to buy or sell the stocks listed at that particular post. 
Treasury shares - The unissued shares in a company's treasury. 

Underwrite - A firm commitment made by a broker or other financial institution to purchase a block of shares at a specified price. 

Vendor - A seller. In the case of mining companies, the consideration paid for properties purchased is often a block of treasury shares. These shares are termed vendor shares and are normally pooled or escrowed. 
Voting right - The stockholder's right to vote in the affairs of the company. Most common shares have one vote each. Preferred stock usually has the right to vote when preferred dividends are in default. 

Warrant - See Rights. 
Working capital - The liquid resources a company has to meet day-to-day expenses of operation; defined as the excess of current assets over current liabilities. 
Writeoffs - Amounts deducted from a company's reported profit for depreciation or preproduction costs. Writeoffs are not an out-of-pocket expense, but reduce the amount of taxable profit. 

Yield - The current annual dividend rate expressed as a percentage of the current market price of the stock.