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"What If": also called sensitivity analysis, it is the process of altering volumes and amounts so as to see what would be likely to happen if they were changed. For example, a company may wish to know the financial effects of cutting its selling price by £1 a unit.

Work In Progress (W.I.P): items not completed at the end of an accounting period.

Working Capital: the excess of current assets less current liabilities. The figure represents the amount of resources the business has in a form that is readily convertible into cash (same as net current assets).

Write Off: in accounting, writing off is the expensing of a balance sheet asset that has no future benefits. An example would be the writing off of goodwill. The worthless asset will be recorded as an expense on the current period's income statement rather than keeping it on the balance sheet as an asset.Similar to a write off is a write down. This is a partial write off. Only part of the value of the asset is removed from the balance sheet. Writing off can be used to:

• cancel a bad debt or obsolete asset from the accounts.

• consider a transaction as a loss or set off (a loss) against revenues.

• depreciate an asset by periodic charges.

• charge a specified amount against gross profits as depreciation of an asset.