Analyst: A brokerage firm employee who studies companies and makes buy-and-sell recommendations on their stocks. Usually follows established investment standards, unless the company is a client that pays large investment banking fees to the firm.

Arrogance: Overbearing pride evidenced by a superior manner toward inferiors.

Bankruptcy: The financial status of a firm that has been legally judged either to have debts that exceed assets or to be unable to pay its bills.

Capital expenditures: Amount used during a particular period to acquire or improve long-term assets such as property, plant or equipment.

Capitalization: The debt and/or equity mix that fund a firm's assets.

Cherry picking: Picking up selected high quality assets for the purpose of securitization leaving behind low grade assets.

Collapse: To break down suddenly in strength or health and thereby cease to function.

Commercial paper: A form of short term debt, with a maturity of as little as one day.

Conspiracy: An agreement to perform together an illegal, wrongful, or subversive act.

Cost of capital: The required return for a capital budgeting project.

Counterparty risk: The risk that the other party to an agreement will fail to meet its obligations.

Debt/equity ratio: Compares assets provided by creditors to assets provided by shareholders.

Deception: An illusory feat; considered almost magical by naive observers.

Discount Rate: The interest rate used for computing the present value of a sum of money payable in future.

Economic risk: In project financing, the risk that the project's output will not be salable at a price that will cover the project's operating and maintenance.

FASB: Financial Accounting Standards Board. Sets accounting standards for U.S. firms.

FASB 125: The Accounting Standard issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board on securitization accounting.

Generally Accepted Accounting Principals (GAAP): The conventions, rules, and procedures necessary to define accepted accounting practice at a particular time.

Greed: An excessive desire to acquire or possess more than what one needs or deserves, especially with respect to material wealth.

Hedge: A transaction that reduces the risk of an investment.

Hubris: An arrogance due to excessive pride and an insolence toward others.

Loot: To take as spoils; steal.

Mark-to-Market: A process which provides an indication of reasonable prices for positions on a daily basis or some other proscribed time frame. In accounting parlance, it would mean valuing securities/loans at their market values.

Maturity: For a bond, the date on which the principal is required to be repaid. For a finance executive, the ability to be around billions of dollars of corporate cash without pocketing any.

Net present value (NPV): The present value of the expected future cash flows minus the cost.

Off-balance-sheet financing: Financing that is not shown as an obligation in a company's list of liabilities and assets, known as the balance sheet.

Ratings: An evaluation of credit quality that rating agencies like Moody's, S&P, and Fitch Investors Service give to companies.

Securitization: The process of packaging assets in such a way that they can be marketed as securities back by the assets.

Securities Act of 1933: The American law governing new issues of securities. It requires full-disclosure of material information related to the offering.

Short selling: Establishing a market position by selling a security one does not own in anticipation of the price of that security falling.

Special purpose entity: A business interest formed solely in order to accomplish some specific task or tasks. A business may utilize a special purpose entity for accounting purposes, but these transactions must still adhere to certain regulations.

Thievery: The act of taking something from someone unlawfully.

“True sale” treatment: In a securitization transaction, where a transaction involving the transfer of an asset to a special purpose entity is treated as an actual sale of the asset, rather than as a financing transaction.

Whistleblower: One who reveals wrongdoing within an organization to the public or to those in positions of authority.