Used in real estate, it refers to a completely unoccupied building – one that was built but never had any tenants, so you can see in one window and out the other on the opposite side of the building. In the bust days of the late 1980s, Dallas and Houston had many high-rise see-through office

A type of public offering where individually owned businesses suddenly combine their ownership into a new public company. In 1992, I met with several other auto recyclers about such an offering, which is very difficult to complete, and I quickly determined that it was not feasible due to a lack of consistent accounting practices. It’s

This is a term for hiring a specialist in a given area, or persons with specific skills or experience. In most jobs, applicants are interviewed, sized up for their qualifications and then likely given some training. With surgical hiring, you actually solicit very specific candidates, perhaps from a competitor, and they need very little or

The meaning is pretty obvious, but it’s an important thing to keep in mind.

Acronym for “full-time equivalent.” It’s used to compare and understand the actual number of full-time employees and total cost per employees. Two part-time employees, who work 20 hours per week, for instance, would be counted as one FTE.

A dummy director acts and votes according to the wishes of another party who is not a member of the board. He is only a figurehead with no true control, but he is still liable; it might be someone who acts as a director during the formation of a corporation until the official directors are

This action doesn’t impact earnings; likely a bad thing. Everyone likes to move the needle and make earnings go up. It’s kind of like going faster in a car, it’s more fun. (For a guy, anyway, according to my wife.) It can also apply to just about any other area of the business, or even

An existing site or plant that has been updated for use rather than constructing a new plant at a raw site. It can also be a site or plant that was previously used by a related industry. For instance, a large manufacturing plant for cars might be purchased and remodeled for building lawn mowers. It’s

A physical business presence. In this era of e-businesses, bricks and mortar refers to a business or a part of a business that can be seen, visited or touched. It’s used in contrast to a business that has no physical presence in a given area and instead sells by utilizing the Internet or salespersons. Such

In contracts, it’s the effort to verify information and to research the validity of documentation and material facts. It’s a required standard of care that a professional is expected to maintain. Essentially, buyers review, audit, sample, and verify that the assets and liabilities as shown are accurate. Obviously, they are interested in finding items that