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Sales: see revenue, turnover.

Sales Invoice: document sent to customers recording a sale on credit and requesting payment.

Secured Loan: loan where the lender has taken a special claim on particular assets or revenues of the company.

Segmental Reporting: reporting revenue, profit, cash flow assets , liabilities for each geographical and business segment within a business, identifying segments by the way the organisation is managed.

Share Capital: name given to the total amount of cash which the shareholders have contributed to the company.

Share Certificate: a document providing evidence of share ownership.

Share Premium: the claim which owners have on the assets of a company because shares have been purchased from the company at a price greater than the nominal value.

Shareholders: owners of a limited liability company.

Shareholders' Funds: name given to total of share capital and reserves in a company balance sheet.

Shares: the amount of share capital held by any shareholder is measured in terms of a number of shares in the total capital of the company.

Short-Term Finance: money lent to a business for a short period of time, usually repayable on demand and also repayable at the choice of the business if surplus to requirements.

Sole Trader: an individual owning and operating a business alone.

Specific Purpose Financial Statements: documents containing accounting information which is prepared for a particular purpose and is not normally available to a wider audience.

Stakeholders: a general term devised to indicate all those who might have a legitimate interest in receiving financial information about a business because they have a 'stake' in it.

Statement of Changes in Equity: a financial statement reporting all items causing changes to the ownership interest during the financial period, under the IASB system.

Statement of Principles: a document issued by the Accounting Standards Board in the United Kingdom setting out key principles to be applied in the process of setting accounting standards.

Statement of Recognised Income and Expense: a financial statement reporting realised and unrealised income and expense as part of a statement of changes in equity under the IASB system.

Statement of Total Recognised Gains and Losses: a financial statement reporting changes in equity under the UK ASB system.

Stepped Bond: loan finance that starts with a relatively low rate of interest which then increases in steps.

Stewardship: taking care of resources owned by another person and using those resources to the benefit of that person.

Stock: a word with two different meanings. It may be used to describe an inventory of goods held for resale or for use in business. It may also be used to describe shares in the ownership of a company. The meaning will usually be obvious from the way in which the word is used.

Stock Exchange (also called Stock Market): an organisation which has the authority to set rules for persons buying and selling shares. The term 'stock' is used loosely with a meaning similar to that of 'shares'.

Stock Holding Period: average number of days for which inventory (stock) is held before use or sale.

Stock Market: see Stock Exchange.

Subsidiary Company: company in a group which is controlled by another (the parent company). (See Chapter 7 for full definition.) Sometimes called subsidiary undertaking.

Substance (Economic): information in the financial statements should show the economic or commercial substance of the situation.

Subtotal: totals of similar items grouped together within a financial statement.

Suppliers' Payment Period: average number of days credit taken from suppliers.