prudently

prudent pru‧dent [ˈpruːdnt] adjective

1. sensible and careful, especially by trying to avoid unnecessary risks:

• These must be prudent loans requiring the buyer to put in significant capital.

2. ACCOUNTING following the rule that a business should not state an asset value, possible profit etc to be bigger, or a possible loss to be smaller, than it actually might be; = CONSERVATIVE

— prudently adverb :

• The firm should have acted more prudently with their investors' money.

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prudent UK US /ˈpruːd^ənt/ adjective

► careful in the way that you make decisions or spend money so that you avoid unnecessary risks: »

They insisted that the deal is fiscally prudent and would not put the city budget at risk.

prudent to do sth »

It would be prudent to delay interest rate cuts until early next year.

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prudent financial planning

► ACCOUNTING prudent accounting is based on the principle of not showing assets or profits to be greater than they might be, or losses to be smaller than they might be, in a company's accounts: »

Normal prudent accounting principles require that prepayments should be written down where it can be seen that they will not be fully recoverable.

prudently /ˈpruːd^əntli/ adverb

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Failure on the part of banks to act prudently has resulted in a global recession.