- expense
- expense ex‧pense [ɪkˈspens] noun1. [countable, uncountable] ACCOUNTING an amount of money that a business or organization has to spend on something:
• Most advertisers look upon advertising as an expense and not an investment, which is a mistake.
• The company's cost-cutting program is expected to reduce expenses by $28 million next year.
acˌcrued exˈpense [countable usually plural] ACCOUNTINGthe value of goods or services that were bought by a business or organization during a particular period of time, even if it pays for them in a later periodmoney that a business or organization spends on investing in new equipment, buildings etc, rather than on running the business or producing goods:• With plans for new airport facilities and aircraft, the airline is facing a lot of capital expenses.
diˌrect exˈpense [countable usually plural] ACCOUNTINGmoney that is spent directly on making one particular product or performing one particular service, rather than money spent on general costs, such as management costsenterˈtainment exˌpense [countable usually plural] ACCOUNTINGmoney that a business or organization spends on taking customers to restaurants, bars, theatres etc, as a way of making business deals easier to complete:• Entertainment expenses are bona fide business expenses only when someone besides you or your employee is being entertained.
ˌfixed exˈpense [countable usually plural] ACCOUNTINGmoney that a business or organization has to pay that does not change with the amount of goods or services it produces or sellsmoney that is spent on the general running of a business or organization, rather than money spent on producing goods or selling services:• Operating profit was knocked down 15% by higher sales, administrative and general expenses.
the extra costs of buying and selling goods, for example packaging, shipping, storing, and insurance:• Last year sales of paintings totalled £1.3 million, out of which the administration and handling expenses had to be paid.
ˌindirect exˈpense [countable usually plural] ACCOUNTINGmoney that is spent on general costs, such as management costs, rather than money spent directly on making one particular product or performing one particular serviceˈinterest exˌpense [countable usually plural] ACCOUNTINGmoney that a business or organization has to spend on paying interest on money that it has borrowed:• Planned debt reductions will reduce annual interest expenses by about $15 million.
money that a business or organization spends on advertising and marketing:• Research and development went from $28 million to $45 million, while sales and marketing expenses increased even more.
other names for general expense:• A reduction in overhead expenses would free funds for workers' pay.
the money that a business or organization spends on selling its products, for example running sales offices, paying salespeople etc:• The company's first-quarter earnings are likely to be hurt by higher selling expenses related to new marketing programs.
money that a business or organization spends to pay for its employees to travel to attend meetings etc2. expenses [plural] ACCOUNTING money that an employee spends while doing their job on things such as travel and food, and which their employer then pays back to them:• Come on, have another drink — it's on expenses.
• He gets an annual salary of $1.5 million; in addition he gets reimbursed for travel and other expenses.
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Ⅰ.expense UK US /ɪkˈspens/ noun► [C or U] ACCOUNTING an amount of money that a person or business spends in order to do something: a big/major expense »Waste disposal is a major expense for us.
cut down on/reduce/cut expense »We need to cut down on our expenses.
cover/meet expenses »He said the business needed to borrow to meet future expenses.
bear/incur an expense »In your tax return you can include tax-deductible expenses incurred as a result of employment.
»a business/operating/running expense
»legal/medical/administrative expenses
unnecessary/additional/extra expense »Money can be moved into the account without the unnecessary expense of being converted into sterling.
► [U] the large amount of money that something costs: »Buying a bigger car has proved to be well worth the expense.
»He just had his office remodelled at great expense.
»Having gone to the expense of hiring an exhibition stand, you need to make the most of the selling opportunity.
→ See also ACCRUED EXPENSE(Cf. ↑accrued expense), CAPITAL EXPENSE(Cf. ↑capital expense), DIRECT EXPENSE(Cf. ↑direct expense), ENTERTAINMENT EXPENSES(Cf. ↑entertainment expenses), FIXED EXPENSE(Cf. ↑fixed expense), GENERAL EXPENSE(Cf. ↑general expense), HANDLING EXPENSE(Cf. ↑handling expense), INDIRECT EXPENSE(Cf. ↑indirect expense), INTEREST EXPENSE(Cf. ↑interest expense), MARKETING EXPENSE(Cf. ↑marketing expense), OPERATING EXPENSE(Cf. ↑operating expense), OVERHEAD EXPENSE(Cf. ↑overhead expense), SALES EXPENSE(Cf. ↑sales expense), TRAVEL EXPENSE(Cf. ↑travel expense)Ⅱ.expense UK US /ɪkˈspens/ verb [T] ACCOUNTING► to show the full amount of money paid for something as a cost in a company's accounts, rather than showing it as a lower and lower amount over a period of time: »The accounting rule allows research-and-development costs to be instantly expensed or deducted from profits.
Financial and business terms. 2012.